logo
Protests intensify in Los Angeles after Trump deploys hundreds of National Guard troops

Protests intensify in Los Angeles after Trump deploys hundreds of National Guard troops

Yahoo2 days ago

Tensions in Los Angeles escalated Sunday as thousands of protesters took to the streets in response to President Donald Trump's extraordinary deployment of the National Guard, blocking off a major freeway and setting autonomous vehicles on fire as local law enforcement used tear gas, rubber bullets, and flash bangs to control the crowd.
Some police patrolled the streets on horseback while others with riot gear lined up behind Guard troops deployed to protect federal facilities including a detention center where some immigrants were taken in recent days.
The clashes came on the third day of demonstrations against Trump's immigration crackdown in the region, as the arrival of around 300 federal troops spurred anger and fear among some residents.
By midday, hundreds had gathered outside the Metropolitan Detention Center in downtown Los Angeles, where people were detained after earlier immigration raids. Protesters directed chants of 'shame' and 'go home' at members of the National Guard, who stood shoulder to shoulder, carrying long guns and riot shields.
After some protesters closely approached the guard members, another set of uniformed officers advanced on the group, shooting smoke-filled canisters into the street.
Minutes later, the Los Angeles Police Department fired rounds of crowd-control munitions to disperse the protesters, who they said were assembled unlawfully. Much of the group then moved to block traffic on the 101 freeway until California Highway Patrol officers cleared them from the roadway by late afternoon.
The presence of the Guard was 'inflaming tensions' in the city, according to a letter sent to Trump by Gov. Gavin Newsom on Sunday afternoon. He formerly requested Trump remove the guard members, which he called a 'serious breach of state sovereignty.'
'What we're seeing in Los Angeles is chaos that is provoked by the administration,' said Mayor Karen Bass in an afternoon press conference. 'This is about another agenda, this isn't about public safety.'
Trump has said the National Guard was necessary because Newsom and other Democrats have failed to stanch recent protests targeting immigration agents.
Their deployment appeared to be the first time in decades that a state's National Guard was activated without a request from its governor, a significant escalation against those who have sought to hinder the administration's mass deportation efforts.
The arrival of the National Guard followed two days of protests that began Friday in downtown Los Angeles before spreading on Saturday to Paramount, a heavily Latino city south of the city, and neighboring Compton.
As federal agents set up a staging area Saturday near a Home Depot in Paramount, demonstrators attempted to block Border Patrol vehicles, with some hurling rocks and chunks of cement. In response, agents in riot gear unleashed tear gas, flash-bang explosives and pepper balls.
Tensions were high after a series of sweeps by immigration authorities the previous day, as the weeklong tally of immigrant arrests in the city climbed above 100. A prominent union leader was arrested while protesting and accused of impeding law enforcement.
The recent protests remain far smaller than past events that have brought the National Guard to Los Angeles, including the Watts and Rodney King riots, and the 2020 protests against police violence, in which Newsom requested the assistance of federal troops.
The last time the National Guard was activated without a governor's permission was in 1965, when President Lyndon B. Johnson sent troops to protect a civil rights march in Alabama, according to the Brennan Center for Justice.
In a directive Saturday, Trump invoked a legal provision allowing him to deploy federal service members when there is 'a rebellion or danger of a rebellion against the authority of the Government of the United States.'
He said he had authorized the deployment of 2,000 members of the National Guard.
Trump told reporters as he prepared to board Air Force One in Morristown, New Jersey, Sunday that there were 'violent people' in Los Angeles 'and they're not gonna get away with it.'
Asked if he planned to send U.S. troops to Los Angeles, Trump replied: 'We're gonna have troops everywhere. We're not going to let this happen to our country. We're not going to let our country be torn apart like it was under Biden.' He didn't elaborate.
Trump also said that California officials who stand in the way of the deportations could face charges. A Wisconsin judge was arrested last month on accusations she helped a man evade immigration authorities.
'If officials stay in the way of law and order, yeah, they will face charges,' Trump said.
Newsom called Trump on Friday night and they spoke for about 40 minutes, according to the governor's office. It was not clear if they spoke Saturday or Sunday.
There was some confusion surrounding the exact timing of the guard's arrival. Shortly before midnight local time, Trump congratulated the National Guard on a 'job well done.' But less than an hour later, Los Angeles Mayor Karen Bass said troops had yet to arrive in the city.
In a statement Sunday, Assistant Homeland Security Secretary Tricia McLaughlin accused California's politicians and protesters of 'defending heinous illegal alien criminals at the expense of Americans' safety.'
'Instead of rioting, they should be thanking ICE officers every single day who wake up and make our communities safer,' McLaughlin added.
The troops included members of the California Army National Guard's 79th Infantry Brigade Combat Team, according to a social media post from the Department of Defense.
In a signal of the administration's aggressive approach, Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth also threatened to deploy active-duty Marines 'if violence continues' in the region.
About 500 Marines stationed at Twentynine Palms, about 125 miles (200 kilometers) east of Los Angeles were in a 'prepared to deploy status' Sunday afternoon, according to the U.S. Northern Command.
Vermont Sen. Bernie Sanders said the order by Trump reflected 'a president moving this country rapidly into authoritarianism' and 'usurping the powers of the United States Congress.'
Former Vice President Kamala Harris, who lives in Los Angeles, said the immigration arrests and Guard deployment were designed as part of a 'cruel, calculated agenda to spread panic and division.'
She said she supports those 'standing up to protect our most fundamental rights and freedoms.'
House Speaker Mike Johnson, a staunch Trump ally, endorsed the president's move, doubling down on Republicans' criticisms of California Democrats.
'Gavin Newsom has shown an inability or an unwillingness to do what is necessary, so the president stepped in,' Johnson said.
Click here to download our free news, weather and smart TV apps. And click here to stream Channel 9 Eyewitness News live.

Orange background

Try Our AI Features

Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:

Comments

No comments yet...

Related Articles

St. Pete consignment shop abruptly closes, thousands of dollars in designer goods missing
St. Pete consignment shop abruptly closes, thousands of dollars in designer goods missing

Yahoo

time27 minutes ago

  • Yahoo

St. Pete consignment shop abruptly closes, thousands of dollars in designer goods missing

The Brief Retreat Consignment store closed without warning. Sellers who had their goods on consignment are now missing. The entire store has been completely cleared out. ST. PETERSBURG, Fla. - Thousands of dollars' worth of designer goods are missing from a St. Petersburg consignment shop. The store, Retreat Consignment, abruptly closed without any warning and now several sellers want to know where their stuff is and how to get it back. What we know Detectives spoke with one of the sellers on Monday. He's out thousands of dollars in art pieces. Dozens more on social media are missing designer shoes and bags worth thousands. The shop is empty, and the store owners are nowhere to be found. Follow FOX 13 on YouTube Rich Goren has been collecting original art pieces for years. "These are just two of the examples of them, but you can see the high quality," Goren said. He's sold several on consignment at the Retreat consignment shop on Central Avenue in St. Pete. READ: St. Pete man sailing over 5,500 miles for Ronald McDonald House Charities "We would be in the store pretty often and we would see that our stuff was still there," Goren said. Last week he noticed the store was completely empty. His stuff was nowhere to be found. Two art pieces and two pairs of designer shoes worth about $17,000 altogether are now missing. "I hope for the best, maybe sitting in a warehouse and they want to return everything. That's fine. That would be the best case scenario. But the fact that you have a business, people entrusting you with their valuables and you just take off. Come on. That's not great," Goren said. What they're saying The stores yelp page is now filled with reviews from frustrated sellers with similar stories. MORE: St. Pete approves projects to make sewer system more resilient "I am BESIDE myself that they closed their doors and took off with all of my items," one reviewer wrote. "There has been no communication as to how they are going to get their clients items, and money owed, back to them," another reviewer wrote. "One of the employees reached out to me, I won't say her name, but she said, oh my gosh, I feel awful, we all do, we haven't paid, and it was unexpected. We thought they might sell the store, but we also thought they would be transparent about everything. There's no reason for them not to be calling," Goren said. Goren reported it to the St. Pete Police Department on Monday. Detectives are encouraging any other sellers who also had their items taken to reach out. Goren has tried to reach the shop owners multiple times, but his calls and emails have all went unanswered. "It's a civil case if they have it, and they're not returning it quickly enough and so that's where that lands. So I don't know what it is. I just know that we just always try to do right by people and I expect that they seem like really good people to us but this isn't looking good," Goren said. READ: More affordable housing coming to South St. Pete with Habitat for Humanity partnership Timeline The store closed sometime in March. Goren has tried to contact the owners multiple times via email and phone, but his calls went unanswered. Sellers who had items not returned are encouraged to file a report with St. Pete Police. The Source The information in this story was gathered by FOX 13's Jordan Bowen. WATCH FOX 13 NEWS: STAY CONNECTED WITH FOX 13 TAMPA: Download the FOX Local app for your smart TV Download FOX Local mobile app:Apple |Android Download the FOX 13 News app for breaking news alerts, latest headlines Download the SkyTower Radar app Sign up for FOX 13's daily newsletter

Federal appeals court to hear arguments in Trump's long-shot effort to fight hush money conviction
Federal appeals court to hear arguments in Trump's long-shot effort to fight hush money conviction

Yahoo

time27 minutes ago

  • Yahoo

Federal appeals court to hear arguments in Trump's long-shot effort to fight hush money conviction

Five months after President Donald Trump was sentenced without penalty in the New York hush money case, his attorneys will square off again with prosecutors Wednesday in one of the first major tests of the Supreme Court's landmark presidential immunity decision. Trump is relying heavily on the high court's divisive 6-3 immunity ruling from July in a long-shot bid to get his conviction reviewed – and ultimately overturned – by federal courts. After being convicted on 34 counts of falsifying business records, Trump in January became the first felon to ascend to the presidency in US history. Even after Trump was reelected and federal courts became flooded with litigation tied to his second term, the appeals in the hush money case have chugged forward in multiple courts. A three-judge panel of the 2nd US Circuit Court of Appeals – all named to the bench by Democratic presidents – will hear arguments Wednesday in one of those cases. Trump will be represented on Wednesday by Jeffrey Wall, a private lawyer and Supreme Court litigator who served as acting solicitor general during Trump's first administration. Many of the lawyers who served on Trump's defense team in the hush money case have since taken top jobs within the Justice Department. The case stems from the 2023 indictment announced by Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg, a Democrat, who accused Trump of falsely categorizing payments he said were made to quash unflattering stories during the 2016 election. Trump was accused of falsifying a payment to his former lawyer, Michael Cohen, to cover up a $130,000 payment Cohen made to adult-film star Stormy Daniels to keep her from speaking out before the 2016 election about an alleged affair with Trump. (Trump has denied the affair.) Trump was ultimately convicted last year and was sentenced without penalty in January, days before he took office. The president is now attempting to move that case to federal court, where he is betting he'll have an easier shot at arguing that the Supreme Court's immunity decision in July will help him overturn the conviction. Trump's earlier attempts to move the case to federal court have been unsuccessful. US District Judge Alvin Hellerstein, nominated by President Bill Clinton, denied the request in September – keeping Trump's case in New York courts instead. The 2nd Circuit will now hear arguments on Trump's appeal of that decision on Wednesday. 'He's lost already several times in the state courts,' said David Shapiro, a former prosecutor and now a lecturer at John Jay College of Criminal Justice. And Trump's long-running battle with New York Judge Juan Merchan, Shapiro said, has 'just simmered up through the system' in New York courts in a way that may have convinced Trump that federal courts will be more receptive. Trump, who frequently complained about Merchan, has said he wants his case heard in an 'unbiased federal forum.' Trump's argument hangs largely on a technical but hotly debated section of the Supreme Court's immunity decision last year. Broadly, that decision granted former presidents 'at least presumptive' immunity for official acts and 'absolute immunity' when presidents were exercising their constitutional powers. State prosecutors say the hush money payments were a private matter – not official acts of the president – and so they are not covered by immunity. But the Supreme Court's decision also barred prosecutors from attempting to show a jury evidence concerning a president's official acts, even if they are pursuing alleged crimes involving that president's private conduct. Without that prohibition, the Supreme Court reasoned, a prosecutor could 'eviscerate the immunity' the court recognized by allowing a jury to second-guess a president's official acts. Trump is arguing that is exactly what Bragg did when he called White House officials such as former communications director Hope Hicks and former executive assistant Madeleine Westerhout to testify at his trial. Hicks had testified that Trump felt it would 'have been bad to have that story come out before the election,' which prosecutors later described as the 'nail' in the coffin of the president's defense. Trump's attorneys are also pointing to social media posts the president sent in 2018 denying the Daniels hush money scheme as official statements that should not have been used in the trial. State prosecutors 'introduced into evidence and asked the jury to scrutinize President Trump's official presidential acts,' Trump's attorneys told the appeals court in a filing last month. 'One month after trial, the Supreme Court unequivocally recognized an immunity prohibiting the use of such acts as evidence at any trial of a former president.' A White House spokesperson did not respond to a request for comment. If Trump's case is ultimately reviewed by federal courts, that would not change his state law conviction into a federal conviction. Trump would not be able to pardon himself just because a federal court reviews the case. Bragg's office countered that it's too late for federal courts to intervene. Federal officials facing prosecution in state courts may move their cases to federal court in many circumstances under a 19th century law designed to ensure states don't attempt to prosecute them for conduct performed 'under color' of a US office or agency. A federal government worker, for instance, might seek to have a case moved to federal court if they are sued after getting into a car accident while driving on the job. But in this case, Bragg's office argued, Trump has already been convicted and sentenced. That means, prosecutors said, there's really nothing left for federal courts to do. 'Because final judgment has been entered and the state criminal action has concluded, there is nothing to remove to federal district court,' prosecutors told the 2nd Circuit in January. Even if that's not true, they said, seeking testimony from a White House adviser about purely private acts doesn't conflict with the Supreme Court's ruling in last year's immunity case. Bragg's office has pointed to a Supreme Court ruling as well: the 5-4 decision in January that allowed Trump to be sentenced in the hush money case. The president raised many of the same concerns about evidence when he attempted to halt that sentencing before the inauguration. A majority of the Supreme Court balked at that argument in a single sentence that, effectively, said Trump could raise those concerns when he appeals his conviction. That appeal remains pending in state court. 'The alleged evidentiary violations at President-elect Trump's state-court trial,' the Supreme Court wrote, 'can be addressed in the ordinary course on appeal.'

Fox News Host Jesse Watters Uses Edited Clip to Cover Up Trump Flub
Fox News Host Jesse Watters Uses Edited Clip to Cover Up Trump Flub

Yahoo

time27 minutes ago

  • Yahoo

Fox News Host Jesse Watters Uses Edited Clip to Cover Up Trump Flub

Fox News' Jesse Watters Primetime conveniently omitted a portion of Donald Trump's comment about a phone call with Gavin Newsom in order to make the California governor look bad. The attempted dunk tried to skirt the fact that Trump told reporters in the Oval Office Tuesday afternoon that he last spoke with Newsom 'a day ago,' which Newsom denied. 'There was no call. Not even a voicemail,' he wrote on X in response. Fox News anchor John Roberts obtained a record of a call from Trump to Newsom on Friday night Pacific time (Saturday morning in the east), and admitted the calls were not made 'a day ago,' as Trump claimed. 'This was June the 7th. Now, granted, this was on Saturday,' the Fox anchor said. However some on the right, like Watters, spun the story as somehow proof that Newsom was lying. When Watters introduced the topic Tuesday night, Fox's broadcast of Trump's comments just so happened to begin a split-second after he said those three words, omitting, 'a day ago' from its broadcast. 'Called him up to tell him: got to do a better job. He's done a bad job, causing a lot of death and a lot of potential death,' Trump said, as Fox portrayed it. Watters made no mention of the omission Tuesday night. Instead, he went ahead bashing Newsom anyways. 'Newsom responded, and he said there wasn't a phone call. He said Trump never called him. Not even a voicemail, he said. But John Roberts got Trump's call logs, and it shows Trump called him late Friday night and they talked for 16 minutes,' Watters said confidently. 'Why would Newsom lie and claim Trump never called him? Why would he do that?' he then asked. Newsom has already said that Trump didn't even talk about the National Guard during their call last week. 'We talked for almost 20 minutes and this issue never came up,' he told MSNBC. 'He never once brought up the National Guard. He's a stone-cold liar.'

DOWNLOAD THE APP

Get Started Now: Download the App

Ready to dive into the world of global news and events? Download our app today from your preferred app store and start exploring.
app-storeplay-store