Vice President JD Vance traveled to Los Angeles on Friday, setting up a showdown with Gov. Gavin Newsom as he visited deployed Marines in the city.
The vice president traveled to a multiagency Federal Joint Operations Center and a Federal Mobile Command Center to visit with federal law officials and thank them for their efforts to protect the city.
He defended the president’s decision to send in federal troops to help local law enforcement combat rioters in the city.
He described the series of events surrounding the riots a ‘tragedy’ and said that the rioters were ‘egged on’ by Newsom and the Los Angeles Mayor Karen Bass.
‘That is disgraceful,’ he said, adding, ‘We’ve got to enforce our borders and get so many of these criminals out of our country to begin with.’
He said that Trump acted because Newsom refused to take the riots seriously.
‘If you enforce your own laws and if you protect federal law enforcement, we’re not going to send in the national guard because it’s unnecessary,’ he said. ‘But if you let violent rioters burn great American cities to the ground, then of course we’re going to send in federal law enforcement to protect the people the president was elected to protect.’
Vance said he was grateful to federal law enforcement officials citing the ‘good news’ that the rioting had slowed down, but said it was still necessary to keep them on duty in case the riots flared back up.
U.S. Vice President JD Vance delivers remarks at the Wilshire Federal Building in Los Angeles
Vice President JD Vance visits with troops at the Wilshire Federal Building
The vice president criticized both Bass and Newsom for encouraging a ‘crisis’ by extending government benefits to illegal immigrants and straining the local public services.
He also criticized both leaders for inciting violent riots in response to the president’s deportation orders and endangering local law enforcement officials.
‘I think it’s disgraceful that we’ve ever gotten to this point,’ Vance added.
The vice president also ridiculed Sen. Jose Padilla for causing a scene at a press conference with Department of Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem last, leading her bodyguards to wrestle him to the ground and handcuff him.
‘Well I was hoping Jose Padilla would be here to ask a question but unfortunately I guess he decided not to show up because there wasn’t a theater,’ he said when asked to respond to the incident. ‘I think we ought to laugh them out of the building, we ought to call them out for doing what they are doing which is grandstanding.’
President Donald Trump deployed 700 U.S. Marines to the city after protesters rioted in response to increased ICE raids and deportations of illegal immigrants.
Vance’s visit takes place after Newsom, who is considering a 2028 Ron for president, loudly protested the deployment of military forces to help quell the riots.
Newsom warned that ‘democracy was under assault,’ because the president ignored his plea to deescalate the riots and protests.
He described the deployment of federal troops and Marines unnecessary and illegal, filing a lawsuit to contest the president’s deployment.
Los Angeles Mayor Karen Bass speaks at a press conference with civic leaders
US Marines take up a position while patrolling the Wilshire Federal Building in Los Angeles, California
California Governor Gavin Newsom speaks during a press conference in Los Angeles, California
Vance’s trip takes place just after the 9th Circuit Court of Appeals unanimously ruled Thursday in favor of the president’s authority to deploy military forces.
‘The undisputed facts demonstrate that before the deployment of the National Guard, protesters ‘pinned down’ several federal officers and threw ‘concrete chunks, bottles of liquid, and other objects’ at the officers,’ the court’s decision read. ‘Protesters also damaged federal buildings and caused the closure of at least one federal building. And a federal van was attacked by protesters who smashed in the van’s windows. The federal government’s interest in preventing incidents like these is significant.’
The Marines were tasked with protecting federal buildings.
Last week they detained a man for walking onto the property of a Los Angeles federal building but he was released without charges.
