President Donald Trump considered using the Insurrection Act in Los Angeles while criticizing the ‘bad people’ and ‘animals’ he claimed nearly caused the city to burn down.
Trump defended his decision to deploy U.S. Marines and the California National Guard to Los Angeles, dismissing California Gov. Gavin Newsom’s suggestion that their presence worsened matters.
And he would not rule out use of an authority to deploy military forces under his control to put down disturbances if he sees fit.
‘If there’s an insurrection, I would certainly invoke it. We’ll see. But I can tell you, last night was terrible. The night before that was terrible,’ Trump stated.
‘If we didn’t send in the national guard quickly, right now, Los Angeles would be burning to the ground,’ Trump told reporters in an impromptu Oval Office meeting with members of his team.
The president also offered a warning, amid complaints from Trump critics that he is using the California standoff to flex authority in Democratic-run states.
‘I can inform the rest of the country, when they do it, if they do it, they will be met with equal or greater force than we met here,’ Trump said.
‘This is the first perhaps of many or perhaps if we didn’t attack this one very strongly, you would have them all over the country,’ Trump said.
He spoke as he is deploying another 2,000 National Guard troops, along with 700 Marines, to LA.
He railed against people seen on video battling police during street protests that kicked off in opposition to ICE raids to pick up illegal immigrants.
He repeatedly referred to ‘bad, sick people’ and ‘agitators’ he said were paid.
‘There are certainly areas of Los Angeles you could have called It an insurrection,’ Trump said. It was terrible.’
President Donald Trump speaks to the media in the Oval Office at the White House, Tuesday, June 10, 2025, in Washington, as Interior Secretary Doug Burgum, Director of the Office of Management and Budget Russell Vought and Secretary of Homeland Security Kristi Noem, look on. ( (AP Photo/Evan Vucci)
‘These are paid troublemakers. They get money,’ he said.
His word choice is relevant, in part because there is statutory authority under the Insurrection Act to use the military domestically in case of rebellion or insurrection.
Trump has said there may have been one, while California authorities have said local police have the authority to put down street demonstrations and flare ups of violence.
‘These are paid insurrectionists or agitators or troublemakers. You can call it whatever you want,’ Trump said. He spoke repeatedly about people seen breaking up sidewalk concrete to use as a ‘weapon.’
Trump blasted ‘bad people’ he said were taking part in the demonstrations and claimed there were paid insurrectionists
Trump took credit for preventing further mayhem by dispatching California National Guard
‘If there’s an insurrection, I would certainly invoke it. We’ll see. But I can tell you, last night was terrible. The night before that was terrible,’ Trump said
Trump repeatedly attacked Gov. Newsom, calling him an ‘incompetent man and an incompetent governor.’
Newsom, a Democrat, is considered a potential Democratic contender, and the turmoil in L.A. is a potential proxy battlefield for the two powerful figures. Newsom’s state filed suit Monday against Trump’s deployment of National Guard without Newsom’s consent.
Trump said Newsom was ‘doing a bad job’ and ‘causing a lot of death.’
Trump, a builder and real estate baron who still owns a sprawling property empire, returned repeatedly to the street materials that in some vandals were seen using against vehicles in downtown L.A.
‘He’s pounding the curb. This one guy’s pounding the curb, breaking the curb, and handing big pieces of granite, in some cases it’s granite, granite and concrete, to other people, and they’re running out with it. And then we watch the other people, and they try and throw it into the face of the soldiers, throw it into the face of the police.
‘They go up on bridges. They drop it down on the cars as the cars are moving. They’re not breaking the curb because they they’re doing a demolition service. They’re breaking it to hand out to people as a weapon. That’s bad. That’s bad stuff. I’ve never seen that before,’ said Trump, 78.
Trump’s June 7 order cites Title 10 of the U.S. Code, Section 12406, which authorizes the president to deploy Guard units when the nation is facing an invasion or a ‘rebellion or danger of rebellion’ or if the president is ‘unable with the regular forces to execute the laws of the United States.’
But the 1878 the Posse Comitatus Act generally prohibits the use of U.S. military forces from carrying out civilian law enforcement functions.
In his own public pronouncements, Trump has described the protests in LA. as an ‘invasion’ and called out ‘violent, insurrectionist mobs.’
The LAPD has nearly 9,000 officers. Trump’s weekend executive order cited ‘credible threats of continued violence.’
During his Tuesday comments, Trump said there were certain areas of LA where ‘you could have called it an insurrection. It was terrible.’
The last time a U.S. president invoked the Insurrection Act was 1992, when George W. Bush used it to deploy troops during the Rodney King riots.
California’s lawsuit denies an ‘invasion’ or ‘rebellion,’ and says Trump’s existing deployment violate’s the 10th Amendment, which establishes states’ rights.
Trump revealed that he called Newsom Monday to tell him to ‘do a better job,’ he said.
