WASHINGTON — President Trump’s tense, late-night phone call with Gov. Gavin Newsom on Friday night came with a warning: “Get the police in gear.” The president was being shown evidence by his staff of looting at a 7-Eleven and of federal law enforcement with lacerations.
His patience would last less than 24 hours before federalizing the National Guard in a historic action.
“He told the governor to get it under control and watched again for another full day, 24 hours, where it got worse,” Karoline Leavitt, the White House press secretary, told The Times in an interview. “The assaults against federal law enforcement upticked, the violence grew, and the president took bold action on Saturday evening to protect federal detention spaces and federal buildings and federal personnel.”
The president did so, Leavitt said, “with the expectation that the deployment of the National Guard would hopefully prevent and deter some of this violence.”
The opposite occurred. The worst violence yet took place on Sunday, with some rioters torching and hurling concrete at police cars, hours after National Guardsmen had arrived in Los Angeles County.
The protests had been largely peaceful throughout Friday and Saturday, with isolated instances of violent activity. Leavitt said that Newsom and Karen Bass, the mayor of Los Angeles, have “handicapped” the Los Angeles Police Department “who are trying to do their jobs.”
Local leaders “have refused to allow the local police department to work alongside the feds to enforce our nation’s immigration laws, and to detain and arrest violent criminals who are on the streets of Los Angeles,” she said.
The president and his immigration czar, Tom Homan, have suggested that political leadership — including Newsom himself — could face arrest over “obstructive” behavior.
“It is a basic principle in this country that if you break the law, you will face a consequence for that,” Leavitt said. “So if the governor obstructs federal enforcement, or breaks federal laws, then he is subjecting himself to arrest.”
Leavitt said she would not get ahead of Trump on whether he will invoke the Insurrection Act, a law that allows the president to suspend Posse Comitatus, which prohibits the military from engaging in local law enforcement.
But she took note that, on Monday, the president referred to some of the rioters as insurrectionists, potentially laying the groundwork for an invocation of the law.
“The president is wisely keeping all options on the table, and will do what is necessary to restore law and order in California,” she said, “and protect law-abiding American citizens. And federal immigration enforcement operations will continue in the city of Los Angeles, which has been completely overrun by illegal alien criminals that pose a public safety risk and need to be removed from the city.”
The president’s order, directing 2,000 National Guardsmen to protect federal buildings in the city, allows for a 60-day deployment. Leavitt would not say how long the operation might last, but suggested it would continue until violence at the protests ends.
“I don’t want to get ahead of the president on any decisions or timelines,” she said. “I can tell you the White House is 100% focused on this. The president wants to solve the problem. And that means creating an environment where citizens, if they wish, are given the space and the right to peacefully protest.”
“And these violent disruptors and insurrectionists, as the president has called them, are not only doing a disservice to law-abiding citizens, but to those who wish to peacefully protest. That’s a fundamental right this administration will always support and protect.”
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