President Donald Trump signaled on Sunday afternoon that National Guard members will be “everywhere” in Los Angeles in order to quell the violent protests that have entered their third day.
“Well, we’re going to have troops everywhere. We’re not gonna let this happen to our country. We’re not gonna let our country be torn apart like it was under Biden and his autopen,” the president said while speaking to reporters in Bedminster, New Jersey, before boarding Air Force One.
Trump was then asked about the “bar for sending in the Marines,” which Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth indicated on Saturday are “on high alert.”
“The bar is what I think it is. I mean, if we see danger to our country and to our citizens, we’ll be very very strong in terms of law and order. It’s about law and order,” Trump said.
Trump also told reporters that if protesters assault law enforcement officers by spitting on them, they will “get hit very hard.”
“When they spit at people — you know they spit, that’s their new thing — when that happens, I have a little statement: They spit, we hit,” the president said.
Trump’s latest comments on federal law enforcement’s response to the Los Angeles protests come after the National Guard arrived in the California city on Sunday morning.
The protests began on Friday after extensive U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement raids across the city, but quickly turned violent over the weekend, with protesters targeting law enforcement officers with rocks, Molotov cocktails, and improvised explosive devices. Police used flashbangs, tear gas, pepper spray, and other crowd control devices to combat the protests.
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Democratic leaders in the state including Los Angeles Mayor Karen Bass and Gov. Gavin Newsom (D-CA) have denounced the Trump administration‘s response to the protests.
Bass earlier called the National Guard deployment a “chaotic escalation,” while Newsom called Hegseth “deranged” for threatening to call in the Marines from Camp Pendleton in San Diego if the violence continues.