Newsom's office compares LA riots against federal agents to sports celebrations

Fox News

7 hours ago

Democratic California Gov. Gavin Newsom's office downplayed the riots gripping Los Angeles, likening them to sports celebrations that notoriously break out in Philadelphia after an Eagles' victory.
"LA riots? Have these geniuses ever seen what happens when the Eagles win a playoff game?" Izzy Gardon, Newsom's communications director, told Fox News Digital on Sunday morning.
Philadelphia notoriously sees sports revelers flood the city after beloved teams such as the Eagles or Phillies win championships, sometimes setting cars ablaze and causing property damage. The city even greases city light poles to dissuade partiers from scaling them and deploys additional police to the streets while often wearing riot gear.
Fox News Digital reached out to the governor's office to ask about claims by California Republicans and natives that Newsom and Los Angeles Mayor Karen Bass bore some of the blame for the riots. They and other local Democrats issued messages defending illegal immigrants and condemning federal agents for carrying out deportation raids in the left-wing city.
"Gavin Newsom and Karen Bass have a real habit of letting Los Angeles burn," Republican California Rep. Darell Issa posted to X on Saturday evening.
"If only Karen Bass fought against the Los Angeles fires like she fights for illegal aliens," Issa added in another post, referring to the Palisades fire that tore through Southern California in January.
"Gavin Newsom is unqualified for a plethora of reasons, the least of which is his support of illegal alien insurrectionists. He is an all purpose, all around loser," Hollywood actor and California resident James Woods posted to X.
Federal officials have also pinned blame for the violence on Democratic elected officials who have "villainized and demonized" ICE law enforcement, Fox Digital previously reported.
"This is on you, Governor. It is a shame that California openly defies federal law and sides with illegal aliens, including hardened criminals, against its own citizens," Harmeet Dhillon, former vice chair of the California Republican Party and current assistant attorney general for civil rights at the U.S. Department of Justice, posted to X.
"The violent targeting of law enforcement in Los Angeles by lawless rioters is despicable and Mayor Bass and Governor Newsom must call for it to end," DHS Assistant Secretary Tricia McLaughlin wrote in a statement. "The men and women of ICE put their lives on the line to protect and defend the lives of American citizens.… From comparisons to the modern-day Nazi gestapo to glorifying rioters, the violent rhetoric of these sanctuary politicians is beyond the pale. This violence against ICE must end."
Newsom on Friday described the Trump administration's immigration raids in Los Angeles as "chaotic and reckless."
"Continued chaotic federal sweeps, across California, to meet an arbitrary arrest quota are as reckless as they are cruel. Donald Trump's chaos is eroding trust, tearing families apart, and undermining the workers and industries that power America's economy," Newsom's statement read.
The press office doubled down in support of shielding illegal immigrants from deportation in a response X post to White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt on Saturday.
"In recent days, violent mobs have attacked ICE Officers and Federal Law Enforcement Agents carrying out basic deportation operations in Los Angeles, California. These operations are essential to halting and reversing the invasion of illegal criminals into the United States. In the wake of this violence, California's feckless Democrat leaders have completely abdicated their responsibility to protect their citizens," Leavitt posted to X.
Newsom's office responded: "These are anything but basic. Your indiscriminate sweeps are terrifying entire communities and detaining hardworking, tax-paying Californians. It's cruel escalation and must end."
When asked about the riots, and California Republicans condemning the violence and Newsom's stance on immigration on Sunday morning, the governor's office compared the lawlessness to street parties after an Eagles win.
The riots in Los Angeles, however, have included targeted attacks on federal law enforcement officials, including violent protesters lobbing rocks and other items at immigration officials. U.S. Border Patrol Chief Michael W. Banks, for example, shared a photo of a Border Patrol agent's bloody hand that was injured by a rock flying through the windshield.
Trump signed a presidential memorandum on Saturday to deploy 2,000 National Guardsmen to Paramount, California, to help quell the violence, and has also slammed the local leaders for the chaos.
"If Governor Gavin Newscum, of California, and Mayor Karen Bass, of Los Angeles, can't do their jobs, which everyone knows they can't, then the Federal Government will step in and solve the problem, RIOTS & LOOTERS, the way it should be solved!!!" Trump posted to Truth Social on Saturday evening.