California Governor Gavin Newsom had some angry words for President Trump and his administration Sunday night about what he says was the illegal and unconstitutional deployment of federal troops in Los Angeles to quell protests.
Giving a fiery interview to MSNBC Sunday, Gavin Newsom said that the state of California would be suing Trump Monday to challenge the president's authority to deploy National Guard troops without the consent of the governor or local authorities. He also pushed back on what Fox News was already referring to as "The LA Riots."
"Donald Trump has created the conditions you see on your TV tonight," Newsom said of the situation in LA. "He’s exacerbated the conditions. He’s, you know, lit the proverbial match. He’s putting fuel on this fire, ever since he announced he was taking over the National Guard — an illegal act, an immoral act, an unconstitutional act, and we’re going to test that theory with a lawsuit tomorrow."
Newsom explained that Trump's executive order unleashing the National Guard "specifically notes — and under what the [Department of Defense] did — they had to coordinate with the governor of the state. They never coordinated with the governor of the state."
Newsom noted in a tweet Monday that the executive order "doesn’t just apply to CA. It will allow him to go into ANY STATE and do the same thing."
He also says that Trump "completely lied" about the situation, going on Truth Social to say that "everything was safe" and the National Guard had done a "great job" in LA at a time when the Guard had not even been deployed yet.
"It’s Orwellian," Newsom said, "it's simply lying to people, [an] unconstitutional, illegal act, his mess. We’re trying to clean it up."
Newsom acknowledged that although there had been peaceful protesters, there were "insurgent groups" and "anarchists" who were taking part in the demonstrations just "create problems." (Some of these problems included Waymo vehicles that were set on fire Sunday, images of which have spread widely in the news media and on social media.) Newsom said these individuals were "playing right into Donald Trump's hand" and needed to be arrested.
But, he added, "Donald Trump, at the end of the day, is the sponsor of these conditions" that are leading to the unrest. "Donald Trump needs to pull back, he needs to stand down. Donald Trump is inflaming these conditions," Newsom said.
Newsom was also asked about border czar Tom Homan's implied threat, saying he had not ruled out arresting Newsom and/or LA Mayor Karen Bass if they stood in the way of the National Guard deployment.
"Come after me, arrest me," Newsom responded. "Let’s just get it over with, tough guy, you know? I don’t give a damn. But I care about my community. I care about this community."
In downtown San Francisco on Sunday, a peaceful protest in solidarity with the protests in LA, outside the ICE field office on Sansome Street, turned violent and led to the arrests of 60 people, including minors. Three SFPD officers reportedly sustained injuries, a Muni bus was vandalized, and Mayor Daniel Lurie issued a statement saying that while peaceful protest is welcome, "we will never tolerate violent and destructive behavior."
Related: Protest Outside ICE Field Office In SF Leads to 60 Arrests, Vandalism, Two Officers Injured
Top image: Photo via Getty Images
