President Donald Trump walked back his comment that the protesters in Los Angeles are “paid insurrectionists.”
“I wouldn’t call it quite an insurrection, but it could have led to an insurrection,” Trump said. “That was a lot of harm that was going on last night.”
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Roughly an hour later, hundreds of Marines were deployed to Los Angeles following weekend protests over raids conducted by Immigration and Customs Enforcement across the city. The protests quickly turned violent, with rioters setting vehicles on fire and throwing rocks, bottles, and Molotov cocktails at officers.
Trump’s earlier decision to deploy 2,000 National Guard members was rebuked by Los Angeles Mayor Karen Bass, Gov. Gavin Newsom (D-CA), and state Attorney General Rob Bonta, who filed a lawsuit against the Trump administration over its decision to deploy the guard without the governor’s consent.
Trump has accused Newsom and Bass of failing to safeguard the city against rioters, saying “law and order” must be restored.
“If we see danger to our country and to our citizens, we’ll be very, very strong in terms of law and order. It’s about law and order,” Trump said.
Meanwhile, Bass blamed the city’s civil unrest on Trump’s immigration raids.
LA IMMIGRATION RIOTS: WHAT TO KNOW ABOUT THE PROTESTS, TRUMP’S RESPONSE, AND MORE
“Our city was peaceful before the raids took place,” Bass said during a press conference.
Fifty-six people have been arrested after participating in the protests.