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Multiple members of the media have been injured by nonlethal rounds fired by law enforcement while covering dayslong protests over the Trump administration’s immigration crackdown in Los Angeles, prompting the Committee to Protect Journalists to sound an alarm about the intimidation of reporters.

Authorities braced for a fifth day of demonstrations on June 10, with President Donald Trump ordering the National Guard and members of the U.S. Marine Corps in a show of force against unrest. The administration’s stepping in has also ignited a clash between local leaders, including California Gov. Gavin Newsom, and the federal government.

As officers use force against protesters, some journalists reporting on the melee have been caught by nonlethal rubber rounds and other projectiles. Adam Rose, the secretary of the Los Angeles Press Club, has documented more than 30 incidents of reporters, photographers and other media professionals impacted by police actions that range from searching a journalist’s bag to firing tear gas or rubber bullets at them. In one viral video, an officer appears to aim and take fire at Australian reporter Lauren Tomasi, who yelped in pain when she was hit in the leg.

The committee, which advocates for press freedom and documents cases of journalists who are killed, imprisoned or missing, said it was “greatly concerned” by the reports of officers’ shooting nonlethal rounds at reporters on the ground.

“Any attempt to discourage or silence media coverage by intimidating or injuring journalists should not be tolerated,” Katherine Jacobsen, program coordinator for the Committee to Protect Journalists in the U.S., Canada and the Caribbean, said in a statement. “It is incumbent upon authorities to respect the media’s role of documenting issues of public interest.”

The Los Angeles Police Department did not respond to questions about the incidents but said in an email to USA TODAY it was “aware of less lethal deployment use during the protests.” The California Highway Patrol didn’t immediately respond an inquiry on the injured journalists. LAPD told the Committee to Protect Journalists it will investigate the incidents.

Journalists injured by rubber bullets, other nonlethal rounds

Tomasi, the Australian reporter, was sore after being hit by the rubber bullet but otherwise unharmed, her employer Australia’s 9News said.

British freelance photographer Nick Stern had to undergo emergency surgery after also being hit in the leg with a nonlethal round, he told the BBC. Stern said he was covering the protests in Los Angeles on June 8 when he was hit by a 3-inch “plastic bullet,” BBC reported. He said he was wearing his press credentials and wearing a big camera around his neck.

“There was something hard sticking out of the back of my leg and my leg was getting wet from blood,” he told the outlet. Stern told BBC protesters helped carry him away from the “danger area” and a medic applied a tourniquet.

“I intend, as soon as I am well enough, to get back out there,” he told BBC. “This is too important and it needs documenting.”

A New York Post photographer was also hit with a rubber bullet in the head, the outlet reported. Toby Canham was standing just off the 101 freeway in Los Angeles the evening of June 8 “when a California Highway Patrol (CHP) officer suddenly turned his weapon toward him and fired from about 100 yards away,” the Post reported. He went to the hospital for whiplash and neck pain and had a bruise on his forehead.

“It’s a real shame. I completely understand being in the position where you could get injured, but at the same time, there was no justification for even aiming the rifle at me and pulling the trigger, so I’m a bit pissed off about that, to be honest,” Canham said.

Officers also shot Ryanne Mena, a reporter with the Southern California News Group, with pepper ball bullets, which contain a chemical akin to pepper spray, she said in a post on social media.

Police briefly detained CNN correspondent Jason Carroll while he was on the air covering protests on June 9. In-studio anchors briefly lost contact with Carroll, who could be seen being led away by LAPD officers with hands behind his back. An officer can be heard telling Carroll: “We’re letting you go. You can’t come back. If you come back, you will be arrested.”

“You take a lot of risks as press. This is low on that scale of risks, but it is something that I wasn’t expecting, simply because we’ve been out here all day,” Carroll said. “I’ve covered any number of protests, and normally the officers realize that the press is there doing a job.”

What’s happening in LA protests

Protests began on June 6 in response to the Trump administration’s crackdown with immigration raids in Southern California. Immigration and Customs Enforcement is carrying out a directive from Trump to find immigrants living in the United States without legal status. Protests have sprung up against the sweeps the agency is carrying out in various neighborhoods.

The protests began largely peacefully after U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement sweeps near Los Angeles resulted in more than 40 arrests, but flared up when heavily armed, masked agents raided Los Angeles businesses. For several days, the demonstrations have grown and turned chaotic and sometimes violent, with police and protesters clashing in the streets.

A tense standoff unfolded between the administration and California authorities, who say the use of the National Guard and U.S. Marines is an unlawful subversion of Newsom’s authority.

Los Angeles Mayor Karen Bass called Trump’s escalation of military presence a “deliberate attempt to create disorder and chaos in our city.”

On Monday, LAPD said protesters threw objects at officers near the federal courthouse, prompting use of gas canisters and other munitions. Bass said over 100 people were arrested Monday night, blaming “fringe groups” for violence.

Contributing: Thao Nguyen, John Bacon, Greta Cross and Taijuan Moorman, USA TODAY

It turns out that Donald Trump’s erratic tariff policy is not popular with manufacturing workers.

A new Washington Post poll of over 500 workers showed that 52 percent oppose the trade measures, believing that they are bad for their livelihoods and the country. In addition, 57 percent of them said that tariffs would hurt their jobs and careers, while 59 percent said that tariffs would hurt the companies they work for.

When broken down on partisan lines, less than half of Donald Trump voters (44 percent) said they believed tariffs would help them, while 87 percent of Harris voters said they would hurt them. A slight majority of the poll’s respondents said they favored or leaned toward the Republican Party, making the results more striking.

Trump has alternately raised and lowered tariffs, confusing markets and businesses. At the moment, there are 145 percent tariffs on China, 25 percent tariffs on Mexican and Canadian goods not covered by the USMCA trade agreement, and 10 percent on most other countries. The moves have already led to layoffs in certain American industries, such as automobiles, and a looming recession would lead to even more job losses.

But Trump doesn’t seem to have any kind of plan with his tariffs and is making it up as he goes along. Without any clarity as to where things are going, not only will industries and markets continue to slide, but Trump may start to lose support from manufacturing workers, many of whom were part of the reason for his election victory in 2024.

CNN —

Last week, Elon Musk was calling for President Donald Trump’s impeachment. This week, Musk is back to praising the administration, softening his tone after the two powerful leaders’ very public breakup.

The whiplash came as protests erupted in Los Angeles over actions by Immigration and Customs Enforcement officers and immigration raids.

Over the weekend, Musk deleted some of his most incendiary X posts about the president, including the call for his impeachment and the allegation, without providing evidence, that Trump’s name appeared in documents related to the crimes of convicted sex offender and financier Jeffrey Epstein.

Musk appeared to wholeheartedly support the Trump administration’s stance on the situation in Los Angeles, adding American Flags to a post from Vice President JD Vance about how the “president will not tolerate rioting and violence.” Musk has long supported closed borders, stopping illegal immigration and deportations, in alignment with the Trump administration.

The tech billionaire posted a screenshot of a Truth Social post from Trump that said California Gov. Gavin Newsom and Los Angeles Mayor Karen Bass “should apologize to the people of Los Angeles,” as clashes have broken out, cars have been set on fire and demonstrations intensify.

He also wrote “cool” to a video of Vance speaking in an interview, saying he thinks “if Elon chills out a little bit everything will be fine.”

And the Tesla CEO re-followed White House Deputy Chief of Staff Stephen Miller, considered one of the lead Trump administration officials on immigration policy, whom he had unfollowed on Thursday in the midst of his blow up with Trump. The move was especially notable considering Miller’s wife, Katie Miller, had recently left the White House to work with Musk full time and the couple had regularly socialized with Musk outside of work. That lead to gossip among White House aides and rounds of speculation about how the fallout could impact the political fortunes of one of the most powerful couples in Trump’s Washington.

Katie Miller did not respond to a request for comment.

Musk at one point fact checked his own AI chatbot Grok, which appeared to confirm as authentic a viral image that seemingly showed Musk writing a post that appeared to say “Just like I took your wife” in response to Miller.

“No, it’s fake ffs 🤦‍♂️ I never posted this,” Musk wrote in response to Grok.

That doesn’t mean it was all back to positive vibes from Musk this weekend. He continued to speak out – albeit in a more subtle manner – against Trump’s domestic policy bill that passed the House and is now being considered in the Senate.

On Sunday Musk replied “Correct” to a user who wrote “Musk’s fight with Trump is neither a stunt nor distraction.” The same day he also reposted an article from the satirical site The Babylon Bee, titled “Republicans Announce Plan To Keep Doing Opposite Of What Everyone Voted For Them To Do.”

Musk had blasted the president’s sweeping “One, Big, Beautiful Bill” last week, arguing it would undermine much of what his Department of Government Efficiency team had done to cut federal spending and the deficit. The Trump administration had denied that the bill would add to the deficit, despite numerous nonpartisan organizations saying it would add trillions of dollars to America’s debt.

But Wall Street analysts are so far breathing slightly easier – as they hope whatever delicate détente holds out.

“While we do not expect Trump and Musk to be back to their Mar-a-Lago connected at the hip days, it would not be a surprise to see Trump and Musk slowly mend the fences (with the help of intermediaries behind closed doors) over the coming months,” wrote WedBush analyst Dan Ives. “[A]t the end of the day Trump needs Musk to stay close to the Republican party and Musk needs Trump for many reasons including a green light on a federal framework for autonomous [vehicles].”

Tesla’s stock rose 4.6% Monday but still remains well below where it started Thursday before the public breakup.

On Monday afternoon Trump also sounded a slightly softer tone on Musk.

“We had a good relationship, I wish him well, very well,” he told reporters during an event at the White House.

But he did not say whether he would pick up if Musk called.

“I haven’t really thought about it actually. I would imagine he wants to speak to me, I would think so,” Trump said.