REP LIEU DENOUNCES ‘PROVOCATIVE AND INFLAMMATORY’ ACTIONS BY PRESIDENT TRUMP IN LOS ANGELES
WASHINGTON – Today, House Democratic Caucus Vice Chair Ted W. Lieu (D-Los Angeles County) joined House Democratic Caucus Chair Pete Aguilar and DCCC Chair Suzan DelBene for a press conference. During the press conference, Congressman Lieu denounced looters and violence exacerbated by President Trump federalizing the National Guard and deploying Marines to Los Angeles.
Read the transcript of Congressman Lieu’s opening remarks:
“Peacefully protesting is an American right. It's part of the rich tradition of our country. Burning cars, looting, and destroying property are crimes, and anyone who takes advantage of this situation and engages in those crimes should be prosecuted to the fullest extent of the law.
“State and local law enforcement have repeatedly said they have the resources necessary to handle the situation. It is completely un-American and needlessly provocative for Donald Trump to deploy the National Guard and Marines to Southern California. So, I want to talk about the National Guard first. Their legal authority Trump is using is 10 U.S.C. Section 12406. I encourage all of you to read it. It very specifically says the only way he can do this is through the orders of the Governors of the states. Governor Newsom clearly has not given this order; the National Guard troops are following unlawful orders. I ask every National Guard person who is under this order to read the order, to see if it came from Governor Newsom and then to read the law and then decide for themselves if they are following unlawful orders.
“It also turns out that when Secretary Hegseth ordered this deployment, and in carrying out those orders, he put all these troops into Southern California without federal funding for food, water, fuel, equipment. They were sleeping on the floor. They were sleeping on each other. It is a complete mess. Secretary Hegseth’s repeated incompetence is next level. He needs to resign.
“And in terms of the Marines deployment, we should not be deploying Marines against Americans. Marines are trained to kill the enemy. What are they going to do at this protest? They're going to shoot protesters? What exactly is their role? They are not trained to do crowd control. They are not trained to handle these kinds of situations. They are not trained for law enforcement. So I asked the President to rescind his orders. He's being needlessly provocative and inflammatory.”
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