Donald Trump continued to blame California Gov. Gavin Newsom for forcing the president to deploy National Guard troops to Los Angeles amid violent protests against Immigration and Customs Enforcement actions.
Trump deployed the National Guard and U.S. Marines in recent days to protect ICE officials despite the objections of the Democrat governor.
“The INCOMPETENT Governor of California was unable to provide protection in a timely manner when our Ice Officers, GREAT Patriots they are, were attacked by an out of control mob of agitators, troublemakers, and/or insurrectionists. MAKE AMERICA GREAT AGAIN!” Trump posted Wednesday on Truth Social.
“If our troops didn’t go into Los Angeles, it would be burning to the ground right now, just like so much of their housing burned to the ground. The great people of Los Angeles are very lucky that I made the decision to go in and help!!!” Trump posted a few minutes later.
Trump ordered 2,000 more National Guard troops, along with 700 Marines, to Los Angeles, in addition to 2,000 Guard troops sent during the weekend to the city, where protests are raging over immigration laws.
On Tuesday, Trump said the city would be “burning to the ground” if he hadn’t sent National Guard troops over the previous three nights.
“If I didn’t ‘SEND IN THE TROOPS’ to Los Angeles the last three nights, that once beautiful and great City would be burning to the ground right now, much like 25,000 houses burned to the ground in L.A. [wildfires] do to an incompetent Governor and Mayor,” he posted on Truth Social.
Later Tuesday, during an Oval Office question-and-answer session with reporters, Trump demurred on invoking the Insurrection Act to go full force with the U.S. military, but said, “We’ll see what happens.”
“If there’s an insurrection, I would certainly invoke it: We’ll see,” Trump said.
Newsom and Los Angeles Mayor Karen Bass said Trump’s descriptions of the situation are not as dire as he claims, and insist he’s putting public safety at risk by sending military personnel into the city.
The Associated Press contributed to this story.
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