Attorney General Pam Bondi insisted that the federal government has jurisdiction over California in prosecuting people involved in the Los Angeles riots.
In an appearance on Fox News’s Hannity, Bondi was asked if the supremacy clause was an issue in deciding jurisdiction in prosecuting rioters.
“We have jurisdiction, and under 18 USC 231, we’re going to go after you. If you assault an LAPD officer, if you assault a deputy, we are going to go after you. If three or more persons in the course of civil disobedience injure a law enforcement officer … we’re good to prosecute you. No longer will you be left out alone in the cold,” she responded.
“If California won’t protect state officers, we will,” Bondi added.
The attorney general also said the federal government would be charging rioters and looters with much heavier penalties.
“The Molotov cocktail cases that you’ve seen, we charged one and more to come,” she said. “The looters, they began to loot last night, going into 7-Elevens and drugstores. Typically, you don’t charge those — we do under federal law now.”
“Under the Hobbs Act, we are charging robbery. You loot a business in California — you are looking at a maximum of 20 years in prison. You spit on a federal law enforcement officer? No more. As President Trump said, ‘You spit, we hit.’ If you spit on a federal law enforcement officer, we’re going to charge you with a crime federally. You are looking at up to five years maximum in prison.”
ROUGHLY 700 MARINES DEPLOYING TO LA FOLLOWING WEEKEND ICE PROTESTS
Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem was similarly harsh, describing Los Angeles as a “city of criminals.”
The Trump administration is taking a heavy-handed stance toward riots that broke out over the weekend in Los Angeles, with President Donald Trump deploying roughly 700 Marines and another 2,000 National Guard members on Monday after deploying 2,000 guard members the previous day.