NBC Nightly News with Tom Llamas - Tuesday, June 10, 2025

Episode Date: June 11, 2025

California governor files lawsuit as Trump defends military deployments to LA; One-on-one with Trump’s border czar; Deadly shooting at high school in Austria; and more on tonight’s broadcast.

Tonight, it started in California. Now it's spreading around the country. As raids expand across America, protests spread as well. Police trying to push back crowds angry over aggressive immigration raids. Democratic leaders in California saying it would all stop if the raids stop. Arrest and damage to buildings and vehicles continue. And amid the chaos, a news photographer taking a rubber bullet to the head. Anxiety rising in California as thousands of National Guard members and Marines on President Trump's orders are there. And the governor asked a court to block them.

The growing controversy. Plus my interview tonight with Borders Art, Tom Homan. I asked him whether immigration raids can continue in Los Angeles without the military's help. The scene of horror in Austria. A 21 year old man opens fire on his former high school, killing 10 and himself. Girls running hand in hand and the emotional vigil tonight. A plane stopped on the runway, passengers told to get off all over a fake bomb threat.

Police now say the man who called it in was a passenger who had missed his flight. The nightly news starts right now. This is NBC nightly news with Tom Yomas. And good evening. Tonight as we come on the air, anti-immigration enforcement raids and protests are spreading across the country. Overnight in Austin, take a look. Police used tear gas to break up the crowds there. And in San Francisco, dozens detained after clashing with police. Today, crowds amassing in Chicago and in New York City, all peaceful protests. Los Angeles, calm for now with the National Guard looking on.

Sunday a terrifying moment when a New York Post reporter was struck with a rubber bullet. You see it there. Marines are on their way, the growing controversy over their role in that city with Governor Newsom going to court to challenge the military's presence in Los Angeles. President Trump defending, sending in the troops saying he wants to make Los Angeles free, clean, and safe again. Our Liz Kreutz joins us once again from Los Angeles. Liz, talk to our viewers about what you're seeing right now. Yeah, hey Tom, well things are starting to pick up here in downtown LA right now. Police have issued a dispersal order right outside of

the federal building. This is one of the few areas that the National Guard have been staging. We should say about an hour ago we were here as swarms, a police officer in riot gear, came into this area. They've created these skirmish lines here. You can see them. They have batons on. They look prepared to be able to fire non-lethal rounds. And beyond that there, they've created this line, this standoff here with those protesters as they try to clear this area press we have been told to stay on this corner here. There's another ground of protesters growing all as protests continue to grow nationwide. Tonight anti immigration enforcement protests spreading nationwide overnight

in Austin tear gas used to break up crowds. San Francisco arrest from clashes with police. And for the 5th day in a row protesters taking to the streets of downtown Los Angeles upset over immigration enforcement operations underway here. There is a way to go about things but this isn't one to just tear families apart. 700 Marines soon to arrive to the city things, but this isn't one to just tear families apart. 700 Marines soon to arrive to the city.

Tonight California Governor Gavin Newsom asking a court to block soldiers from enforcing immigration laws, posting the federal government is turning the military against American citizens. President Trump saying if he did not deploy them and the National Guard, things would be much worse. What you're witnessing in California is a full-blown assault on peace, on public order, and a national sovereignty carried out by rioters bearing foreign flags. Very simply, we will liberate Los Angeles and make it free, clean, and safe again. President Trump noting the LAPD chief said Sunday the department was overwhelmed,

but tonight Chief Jim McDonald telling us it's unclear what the Marines will do. Have you been given any communication from the federal government about Marines coming here to the city. You know I've heard I've heard like everybody else has mostly through the media. Tonight NBC News learning that the Marines could be used to provide security and transportation to ice agents

during their operations to arrest undocumented immigrants of Capitol Hill defense secretary Pete Hegseth security and transportation to ICE agents during their operations to arrest undocumented immigrants. A Capitol Hill Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth pressed by Democrats about the cost of the National Guard deployment. Could the Secretary please address the budget? Thank you. You asked about the situation in Los Angeles and we believe ICE agents should be allowed to be safe in doing their operations.

The Pentagon revealing it will cost roughly a 134 million dollars all after overnight new violent clashes between protesters and police a car lit on fire some businesses looted including this Apple store in downtown L A. So far more than a 100 arrests have been made and the FBI now offering a $50,000 reward for this protester who allegedly pelted ice agencies vehicles with rocks over the weekend weekend this video showing a New York Post Photographer getting hit in the face by a rubber bullet from police as protesters took over a major highway Sunday

Well DHS confirming ice agents carried out more enforcement operations Monday targeting undocumented gang members Democratic Mayor Karen Bass demanding all ICE raids stop. The real solution of all of this is for the administration to stop the raids. Maria Fabila owns the black tie tuxedo just blocks from the protest. She's an immigrant herself, but does not support the protesters, saying she's been forced to temporarily close her store. What is your message to the protesters right now? I'm very scared and not good.

No, very, very bad for the economy, for the state, California. You're scared. Yeah, very, very scared. Liz joins us again live. Liz, I understand just as we went to your report, some flashbangs went off behind you. What's going on?

Yeah, so we're in a crowd of protesters right now. There's sort of two crowds of protesters. Between them is that skirmish line of police. And we did hear some flashbangs. For the most part right now, it is peaceful, but the standoff does seem to be escalating here. And we should say, Tom, we have not seen Marines on the streets of LA. We have seen National Guard, but just in the perimeter of federal buildings.

Tom, more on that in a moment. Liz, we thank you. Please stay safe out there. What happens if the courts do stop the president's deployment? I just spoke to the border czar about it and Governor Newsom's comments that the Trump administration is adding to the chaos from what you've seen, from what you've heard in Los Angeles. Could you conduct ICE raids right now without the help of the National Guard and the Marines?

We can conduct ICE raids, but it's about the threats and the violence right now. This job's already dangerous. I've done this for a long time. Our ICE officers have been attacked. It's like we're a third world nation where people think it's okay to threaten the life and safety of federal law enforcement officers and their families. I want to put up a tweet for you. This is what Gavin Newsom put on X, right? He put the photos you see there of Marines sleeping on top of each other. This is what he wrote

in that post. You sent your troops here without fuel, food, water, or a place to sleep. Here they are being forced to sleep on the floor, piled on top of one another. What do you say to that, Mr. Homan? I see it take a few moments going downtown in LA and look at the damage that's been done by these radical protesters. I mean, President Trump's saving his city. President Trump's doing what he should have done.

Gavin Newsom could have responded right away. And everyone wants to put the blame on President Trump and the National Guard. You know where the blame starts? It starts with the Biden administration, with over 10 million illegal aliens across this border. We're out there trying to respond to the chaos he created. My thanks to Tom Homan.

Now to a bomb threat called in about a Spirit Airlines flight from Detroit to Los Angeles. The FBI says the man who called it in was supposed to be on that flight but missed it. Here's Tom Costello. It happened at Detroit Metropolitan Airport. in was supposed to be on that flight, but missed it. Here's Tom Costello. It happened at Detroit Metropolitan Airport. We have a situation, so we are unfortunately going to have to de-board this aircraft, and everybody's going to have to be rescreened. Spirit Airlines flight 2145 to Los Angeles on Thursday stopped and held on the runway

after a caller phoned in a bomb threat. If you cooperate with me, which I greatly appreciate if you could, I will get this done as quick as I can for you. Everyone on board removed from the plane and screened on the runway by TSA dogs. But within just a few hours, the FBI said they had their suspect. 23-year-old John Charles Robinson,

who allegedly admitted to calling in the threat after arriving too late for the flight and telling the Spirit Airlines rep on the phone there's going to be someone that's going to try to blow up that flight 2145 when Robinson then showed up for the flight that he'd been rebooked on he was arrested now charged with the use of a cell phone to threaten maliciously convey a bomb threat and phoning in false information in a statement the U.S. attorney in Detroit says, no American wants to hear the words bomb and airplane in the same sentence.

Making this kind of threat undermines our collective sense of security and wastes valuable law enforcement resources. Robinson is now out on a $10,000 bond. His first court appearance is on June 27th. Tom? All right, Tom Tom we thank you now to the absolute shock overseas and horror over a school shooting in a place where they rarely happen a gunman opened fire at a high school in Austria killing ten people and himself Molly Hunter has that story in

the middle of class multiple gunshots ringing out, piercing the calm at this high school in Graz, Austria's second largest city. Police responding within minutes, special forces on the scene, evacuating terrified students. At least 10 people were killed and 11 injured when a 21-year-old former student who never graduated opened fire around 10 a.m. He operated alone, police say, using two weapons he owned legally.

After the shooting spree, he took his own life in the school's bathroom. Ada, a student at the school, said it was so unexpected. We had so many injuries, even our teacher died. This afternoon, people lining up to donate blood. The only way possible to help. The only thing we can do to help. Tonight, some mothers lucky enough to be taking their children home. I'm thinking about how bad it is for other parents, this mother, Eva, says. I get scared all the time.

Her son is safe tonight, but he called me while the whole thing was happening, she says. Tonight in Graz, thousands coming together. A nation stunned. The horror of this kind of shooting, so rare. And Molly joins us now live. Molly, we're learning more about the weapons the shooter had access to. Tom, that's right. And authorities say the suspect was unknown to them, so a big part of the investigation will now focus on the weapons that he used, how he got them. Police say he used a handgun and a long gun. Tom?

Okay, Molly Hunter first, Molly, thank you. We want to stay overseas now with the emotional homecomings tonight as Russia and Ukraine exchanged prisoners with desperate families, finally seeing their loved ones again after they were locked up in Russia. Richard Engels in Ukraine for us. Today, dozens of Ukrainian prisoners of war were freed in an exchange with Russia.

They were greeted to a hero's welcome at a hospital north of Kiev. But they looked like the living dead, gaunt, heads shaven, their bodies broken and some said beaten. Oleksandr Kulkov told me he was a prisoner for over three years and that the Russians broke his ribs. If nothing was already broken they would break it he said. Hundreds of families of missing Ukrainians tried to show the POWs

photographs hoping one of them might have seen their lost father, son or brother. Olga Serhichuk had no luck. I am happy for those who have been returned, but I am so sorry my husband is not among them she said. But just a few feet away Tanya Shestak couldn't contain her joy. A prisoner saw her father two days ago and said he's doing well. This is the first information. First time you learn that your father is still alive. How are you doing?

Very, very, very. Very exciting. I can feel you squeezing my arm. Wow. Even with peace talks stalled, after today there's renewed hope there'll be more prisoner exchanges. Tom? Richard Engelfer is from Ukraine tonight. Back here at home the future of vaccine recommendations remains in question following the move by Health Secretary Robert F. Kennedy, Jr. to retire all the members of a CDC panel of independent experts advising on vaccines. Here's Ann Thompson. Fierce blowback tonight to HHS Secretary Robert F. Kennedy, Jr.'s decision to remove all members of the CDC's Vaccine

Advisory Committee from public health experts. If this committee stops recommending vaccines, insurance won't cover it anymore. People will not get it. It will have a real impact on people's access to vaccines. And the American Academy of Pediatrics. I think we're likely to see diseases that we've that many people have never seen before or even heard of. Concern from parents. Don Gibson, father of two in California.

I'm really worried that my children won't have access to vaccines that I did. Mom Harmony Montes in the heart of the recent West Texas measles outbreak. I very much trust vaccines. Kennedy, a long time vaccine skeptic. In today's Wall Street Journal writing, a clean sweep is needed to reestablish public confidence in vaccine

science, claiming the committee has been plagued with persistent conflicts of interest. The committee is made up of independent medical and public health experts who make recommendations to the CDC about vaccine usage. Louisiana Senator Bill Cassidy, a doctor, said in February Kennedy and the Trump White House promised him this. It confirmed he will maintain the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention's Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices recommendations without changes. Today, Cassidy was cautious. I'll have to see. He'll farm me the names, but I can't answer that because I haven't seen the names. Do you see this increasing trust in vaccines?

I don't see how it possibly could. Trust and the nation's health experts say potentially at risk. Anne Thompson, NBC News. We're back now with a tense scene in Texas where a Union Pacific train derailed Monday evening and walks a hatchy. Look at this, 16 cars, most of them carrying ethanol, jump the tracks. Authorities say no leaks have been detected and city officials stressed there is no immediate danger. They're still looking into how this happened. Now to the new twist in the ongoing feud between President Trump and his one top ally, Elon Musk.

Look at this. Our cameras capturing the moment outside the West Wing when President Trump's valet drove off with the red Tesla that Trump purchased in a show of support for Musk. The president telling reporters yesterday he may move the Tesla around a little bit when asked if he planned to get rid of it. All right, when we come back, a degree decades in the making, a grandmother finally getting her diploma. That's next. Finally, there's good news tonight. One grandmother in Maine graduating at 88 years old. Why it took almost 60 years for this

graduate to get her degree. The year was 1959. And Joan Alexandra was getting ready to graduate from the University of Maine with hopes of becoming a teacher. But then came the big news she and her husband were expecting at the time pregnant women weren't allowed to participate as student teachers. All these years ahead realize that I had this big hole in my life and that's what it was to lack of the diploma.

As years went by Jones family grew and she began volunteering in schools, helping young preschool Children learned to read her four daughters would eventually all graduate from college. But over the years, Jones youngest Tracy said something was missing. So I felt like it was important for her to have that degree that she earned. So last year, Tracy called the University of Maine and made her mother's case. Why did you want to do this for your mom? It always made me kind of sad to think that she'd done everything that she could do and that she wasn't able to get this degree.

The university looked into it and determined Joan did meet the student teaching requirement. I think he said, mom, you're going to be a graduate. We both cried. That day, the super senior making history at age 88, Joan became the oldest undergrad to receive a degree from the University of Maine. After I got it, that hole filled up and I felt like I was a finished person. A big congrats to Joan. That's nightly news for this Tuesday.

Remember tonight and always we're here for you. Thanks so much for watching. I'm Tom Yalmas. Have a great night.