Gov. Gavin Newsom on Tuesday night accused President Trump of intentionally fanning the flames of the Los Angeles protests and “pulling a military dragnet across” the city endangering peaceful protesters and targeting hardworking immigrant families.
The Democratic governor’s comments were a forceful rebuke to the president’s claims that deploying the California National Guard and U.S. Marines to the city was necessary to control the civil unrest.
“Donald Trump’s government isn’t protecting our communities — they’re traumatizing our communities,” Newsom said. “And that seems to be the entire point.”
The governor posted his video address to California on social media hours after Trump said at Ft. Bragg in North Carolina that he sent in troops to protect immigration agents from “the attacks of a vicious and violent mob.”
The picture Trump painted of the federal government’s role in the protests against immigration raids marks a sharp contrast to Newsom’s assertion that state and local law enforcement were successfully keeping the peace before federal authorities deployed “tear gas, “flash-bang grenades” and “rubber bullets” on Angelenos exercising their constitutional right to free speech and assembly.
Then Trump “illegally” called up the California National Guard, Newsom said.
“This brazen abuse of power by a sitting president inflamed a combustible situation, putting our people, our officers, and even our National Guard at risk,” Newsom said. “That’s when the downward spiral began. He doubled down on his dangerous National Guard deployment by fanning the flames even harder. And the president, he did it on purpose.”
The governor, who has become a target for Republicans and a central figure in the political and legal battle over the protests, has said for days that an “unhinged” Trump deployed federal troops to intentionally incite violence and chaos, seeking to divert attention away from his actions in Washington and assert his “dictatorial tendencies.”
Newsom and state Atty. Gen. Rob Bonta filed a request for a restraining order earlier Tuesday asking a federal judge to call off the “Department of Defense’s illegal militarization of Los Angeles and the takeover of a California National Guard unit.” The request came the day after California filed a lawsuit against the Trump administration alleging that the deployment of the guard without the governor’s consent violated the U.S. Constitution.
After returning to Washington, Trump commented on the “good relationship” he’s always had with Newsom, before blaming the governor for the unrest.
“This should never have been allowed to start, and if we didn’t get involved, Los Angeles would be burning down right now,” Trump said, and then made a reference to the deadly wildfires in the Los Angeles area in January. “Just as the houses burned down.”
He said the military is in the city to de-escalate the situation and control what he described as paid “insurrectionists,” “agitators” and “troublemakers.”
“We have a lot of people all over the world watching Los Angeles,” Trump said. “We’ve got the Olympics, so we have this guy allowing this to happen.”
On Monday, Trump said his top border policy advisor Tom Homan should follow through on threats to arrest the governor. Newsom immediately jumped on the comment, comparing the federal administration to an “authoritarian regime.”
“I never thought I’d hear those words. Honestly, Democrat, Republican. Never thought I’d hear those in my lifetime — to threaten a political opponent who happens to be sitting governor,” Newsom said.
House Speaker Mike Johnson (R-La.) declined to answer a question about whether Newsom should be arrested on Tuesday and instead said the governor should be “tarred and feathered.”
Newsom took a shot at Johnson during his address, saying the speaker has “completely abdicated” his responsibility for Congress to serve as a check on the White House. He warned that “other states are next.”
“At this moment, we all need to stand up and be held to account, a higher level of accountability,” Newsom said, imploring protesters to exercise free-speech rights peacefully. “I know many of you are feeling deep anxiety, stress and fear. But I want you to know that you are the antidote to that fear and anxiety.
“What Donald Trump wants most is your fealty. Your silence. To be complicit in this moment. Do not give in to him.”
Times staff writer Laura Nelson and Washington bureau chief Michael Wilner contributed to this report.
Newsom says Trump purposely ‘fanned the flames’ of L.A. protests
Gov. Gavin Newsom on Tuesday night accused President Trump of intentionally fanning the flames of the Los Angeles protests and “pulling a military dragnet across” the city endangering peaceful protesters and targeting hardworking immigrant families.
The Democratic governor’s comments were a forceful rebuke to the president’s claims that deploying the California National Guard and U.S. Marines to the city was necessary to control the civil unrest.
“Donald Trump’s government isn’t protecting our communities — they’re traumatizing our communities,” Newsom said. “And that seems to be the entire point.”
The governor posted his video address to California on social media hours after Trump said at Ft. Bragg in North Carolina that he sent in troops to protect immigration agents from “the attacks of a vicious and violent mob.”
The picture Trump painted of the federal government’s role in the protests against immigration raids marks a sharp contrast to Newsom’s assertion that state and local law enforcement were successfully keeping the peace before federal authorities deployed “tear gas, “flash-bang grenades” and “rubber bullets” on Angelenos exercising their constitutional right to free speech and assembly.
Then Trump “illegally” called up the California National Guard, Newsom said.
“This brazen abuse of power by a sitting president inflamed a combustible situation, putting our people, our officers, and even our National Guard at risk,” Newsom said. “That’s when the downward spiral began. He doubled down on his dangerous National Guard deployment by fanning the flames even harder. And the president, he did it on purpose.”
The governor, who has become a target for Republicans and a central figure in the political and legal battle over the protests, has said for days that an “unhinged” Trump deployed federal troops to intentionally incite violence and chaos, seeking to divert attention away from his actions in Washington and assert his “dictatorial tendencies.”
Newsom and state Atty. Gen. Rob Bonta filed a request for a restraining order earlier Tuesday asking a federal judge to call off the “Department of Defense’s illegal militarization of Los Angeles and the takeover of a California National Guard unit.” The request came the day after California filed a lawsuit against the Trump administration alleging that the deployment of the guard without the governor’s consent violated the U.S. Constitution.
After returning to Washington, Trump commented on the “good relationship” he’s always had with Newsom, before blaming the governor for the unrest.
“This should never have been allowed to start, and if we didn’t get involved, Los Angeles would be burning down right now,” Trump said, and then made a reference to the deadly wildfires in the Los Angeles area in January. “Just as the houses burned down.”
He said the military is in the city to de-escalate the situation and control what he described as paid “insurrectionists,” “agitators” and “troublemakers.”
“We have a lot of people all over the world watching Los Angeles,” Trump said. “We’ve got the Olympics, so we have this guy allowing this to happen.”
On Monday, Trump said his top border policy advisor Tom Homan should follow through on threats to arrest the governor. Newsom immediately jumped on the comment, comparing the federal administration to an “authoritarian regime.”
“I never thought I’d hear those words. Honestly, Democrat, Republican. Never thought I’d hear those in my lifetime — to threaten a political opponent who happens to be sitting governor,” Newsom said.
House Speaker Mike Johnson (R-La.) declined to answer a question about whether Newsom should be arrested on Tuesday and instead said the governor should be “tarred and feathered.”
Newsom took a shot at Johnson during his address, saying the speaker has “completely abdicated” his responsibility for Congress to serve as a check on the White House. He warned that “other states are next.”
“At this moment, we all need to stand up and be held to account, a higher level of accountability,” Newsom said, imploring protesters to exercise free-speech rights peacefully. “I know many of you are feeling deep anxiety, stress and fear. But I want you to know that you are the antidote to that fear and anxiety.
“What Donald Trump wants most is your fealty. Your silence. To be complicit in this moment. Do not give in to him.”
Times staff writer Laura Nelson and Washington bureau chief Michael Wilner contributed to this report.
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California asks court for restraining order to block Guard, Marine deployments in L.A.
California on Tuesday asked a federal court for a temporary restraining order blocking the Trump administration’s deployment of both state National Guard forces and U.S. Marines to Los Angeles amid mass protests over sweeping federal immigration enforcement efforts.
The request was filed in the same federal lawsuit the state and California Gov. Gavin Newsom filed Monday, in which they alleged Trump had exceeded his authority and violated the U.S. Constitution by sending military forces into an American city without the request or approval of the state governor or local officials.
California Atty. Gen. Rob Bonta, whose office is handling the litigation on behalf of both Newsom and the state, said the restraining order was necessary to bring an immediate stop to the deployments, which local officials have contended are not needed and only adding to tensions sparked by sweeping immigration detentions and arrests in communities with large immigrant communities.
“The President is looking for any pretense to place military forces on American streets to intimidate and quiet those who disagree with him,” Bonta said in a statement Tuesday. “It’s not just immoral — it’s illegal and dangerous.”
Newsom, in his own statement, echoed Bonta, saying the federal government “is now turning the military against American citizens.”
“Sending trained warfighters onto the streets is unprecedented and threatens the very core of our democracy,” Newsom said. “Donald Trump is behaving like a tyrant, not a President.”
The state’s request Tuesday asked for the restraining order to be granted by 1 p.m. Tuesday “to prevent immediate and irreparable harm” to the state.
Absent such relief, the Trump administration’s “use of the military and the federalized National Guard to patrol communities or otherwise engage in general law enforcement activities creates imminent harm to State Sovereignty, deprives the State of vital resources, escalates tensions and promotes (rather than quells) civil unrest,” the state contended.
The request specifically notes that the use of military forces such as Marines to conduct domestic policing tasks is unlawful, and that Trump administration officials have stated that is how the Marines being deployed to Los Angeles may be used.
“The Marine Corps’ deployment for law enforcement purposes is likewise unlawful. For more than a century, the Posse Comitatus Act has expressly prohibited the use of the active duty armed forces and federalized national guard for civilian law enforcement,” the state’s request states. “And the President and Secretary Hegseth have made clear — publicly and privately — that the Marines are not in Los Angeles to stand outside a federal building.”
At Trump’s direction, Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth mobilized nearly 2,000 members of the state’s National Guard on Saturday after Trump said L.A. was descending into chaos and federal agents were in danger, then mobilized another 2,000 members on Monday. The Pentagon approved the deployment of 700 U.S. Marines from the base in Twentynine Palms to the city Monday, with the stated mission of protecting federal buildings and agents.
Hegseth said the deployments would last 60 days, and the acting Pentagon budget chief said the cost would be at least $134 million. He told members of the House appropriations defense subcommittee that the length of the deployments was intended to “ensure that those rioters, looters and thugs on the other side assaulting our police officers know that we’re not going anywhere.”
Local officials have decried acts of violence, property damage and burglaries that have occurred in tandem with the protests, but have also said that Trump administration officials have blown the problems out of proportion and that there is no need for federal forces in the city.
Constitutional scholars and some members of Congress have also questioned the domestic deployment of military forces, especially without the buy-in of local and state officials — calling it a tactic of dictators and authoritarian regimes.
L.A. Mayor Karen Bass questioned what Marines would do on the ground, while Police Chief Jim McDonnell said the arrival of military forces in the city without “clear coordination” with local law enforcement “presents a significant logistical and operational challenge for those of us tasked with safeguarding this city.”
Bonta had said Monday that the 10th Amendment to the U.S. Constitution limits federal power around such deployments, that the deployment of National Guard forces to quell protests without Newsom’s consent was “unlawful” and “unprecedented,” and that the deployment of Marines would be “similarly unlawful.”
On Tuesday, he said the state was asking the court to “immediately block the Trump Administration from ordering the military or federalized national guard from patrolling our communities or otherwise engaging in general law enforcement activities beyond federal property.”
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