Border czar Tom Homan has accused MSNBC of deceptively editing an interview where he was probed about whether he would arrest California officials Gavin Newsom and Mayor Karen Bass amid the Los Angeles riots.
The White House official blasted MSNBC correspondent Jacob Soboroff as ‘dishonest’ after the reporter published their exchange, which showed Homan saying he would order the arrest of anyone who impedes law enforcement officers.
Soboroff went on to interview Newsom, telling him that Homan ‘did not rule out literally arresting you’ – which prompted a fiery response from the Democrat Governor as he hit back by daring Homan to detain him.
‘That reporter from MSNBC, he’s a joke, he’s a dishonest reporter. He took a 20-minute interview and chopped it up,’ Homan told Fox & Friends about their initial exchange.
‘I never threatened to arrest the governor. I said nobody is above the law – but I also said they haven’t crossed a line.’
Donald Trump’s border tsar has previously threatened arrest for anyone who obstructs immigration enforcement. When Soboroff asked him on Sunday whether this would include Newsom or Bass, Homan did not rule it out.
‘I’ll say it about anybody,’ Homan told the MSNBC reporter. ‘You cross that line, it’s a felony to knowingly harbor and conceal an illegal alien. It’s a felony to impede law enforcement doing their job.’
He did not accuse any politician of impeding enforcement, and when asked about Bass specifically, he said that he doesn’t believe ‘she’s crossed the line yet.’
Border czar Tom Homan has accused MSNBC of deceptively editing an interview (shown above) where he was probed about whether he would arrest California officials Gavin Newsom and Mayor Karen Bass amid the Los Angeles riots
Soboroff went on to interview Newsom (shown above), telling him that Homan ‘did not rule out literally arresting you’ – which prompted a fiery response from the Democrat Governor as he hit back by daring Donald Trump’s border tsar to detain him
The war of words came amid anarchy on the streets of Los Angeles as protesters lit cars on fire and ground the city’s downtown to a complete halt on Sunday night
Later on Sunday, Soboroff told Newsom that Homan ‘did not rule out literally arresting you and Mayor Bass if you interfere in his (law enforcement)’.
Newsom quickly cut in, saying: ‘He’s a tough guy so why doesn’t he do that? He knows where to find me. Come and arrest me.
‘Let’s just get it over with, tough guy. I don’t give a damn. But I care about my community. What the hell are they (Trump administration officials) doing?
‘These guys need to grow up, they need to stop, and we need to push back… that kind of bloviating is exhausting, so Tom, arrest me.’
After seeing the footage, Homan slammed Soboroff for stirring the pot and, according to the border tsar, deceptively editing the initial interview.
After seeing the footage of his interview, Homan slammed Soboroff for stirring the pot and, according to the border tsar, deceptively editing the initial exchange he had on MSNBC
A protester holds a mask showing Donald Trump’s severed head attached to a pole
Soboroff has responded by airing full clips of both his interview with Homand and a follow-up exchange with Newsom to show that neither were edited.
‘Tom Homan said we cut a clip and took his words out of context. We did anything but,’ Soboroff told Ana Cabrera Reports. ‘In fact, we presented the clips in their entirety in all of our airings, including on NBCNews.com.’
The war of words came amid anarchy on the streets of Los Angeles as protesters lit cars on fire and ground the city’s downtown to a halt on Sunday night.
Demonstrators said they were protesting against Trump’s immigration policies, which they said are breaking migrant families apart.
Trump sent in 2,000 National Guard troops and placed 500 Marines on standby, while the LAPD authorized the ‘use of less lethal munitions’ to regain control of the city.
The conflict also ignited tensions between Trump and Newsom, who accused the president of intentionally exacerbating the protests by exaggerating what was happening on the ground.
The war of words came amid anarchy on the streets of LA as protesters lit cars on fire and ground the city’s downtown to a halt on Sunday night. Newsom has sued Trump for allegedly unlawfully calling in the National Guard and ‘creating a manufactured crisis’
Newsom sued Trump for allegedly unlawfully calling in the National Guard and ‘creating a manufactured crisis’, while calling the deployment ‘disrespectful to our troops’.
He shared photographs of US Army personnel sleeping on the ground in cramped positions amid the deployment after the Trump administration allegedly failed to prepare anywhere for them to rest during the deployment.
‘This isn’t about public safety,’ Newsom said. ‘It’s about stroking a dangerous President’s ego.’
Meanwhile, Trump demanded that both Newsom and Bass apologize for the riots, insisting those involved are not ‘peaceful protesters’ as the duo had claimed, but instead ‘troublemakers and insurrectionists.’
