President Trump Fires Back at Governor Newsom’s Lawsuit Threat

Obviously, it was a big weekend in Los Angeles, and the situation still continues to escalate with anti-ICE riots. Due to the threat to national security, President Trump sent in the National Guard.

California Governor Gavin Newsom threatened to sue the Trump Administration over the deployment of military personnel. He claimed that “Donald Trump has manufactured a crisis and is inflaming conditions.” He also dared “Border Czar” Tom Homan to arrest him, posting on X:

Trump’s border czar is threatening to arrest me for speaking out.

Come and get me, tough guy.

I don’t give a [].

It won’t stop me from standing up for California.

However, the Trump Administration is not backing down. White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt fired back this morning:

Gavin Newsom did nothing as violent riots erupted in Los Angeles for days.

Federal law enforcement officers were attacked by violent radicals and illegal criminals waving foreign flags because Governor Newsom was too weak to protect the city.

The Los Angeles Police Chief has even said the riots were getting out of hand.

President Trump has stepped in to maintain law and order and protect federal buildings

To be sure, a U.S. President using the military to quell civil unrest is a controversial topic. Generally, the Posse Comitatus Act of 1878 prohibits the use of federal troops in law enforcement.

So we must answer the question: Based on the law, can a U.S. President send in the National Guard? To be honest, we’re wading in a bit of untested waters.

Using troops for police reinforcements has happened sporadically. The National Guard was deployed during the Civil Rights era when some Southern governors were not allowing universities to be integrated. For instance, President Eisenhower sent troops to Little Rock, Arkansas, in 1955.

Additionally, a state governor can request that the U.S. President federalize the National Guard during disaster relief or rioting. We saw that in 1992 during the Rodney King riots. But to be clear, it was in conjunction with the governor’s request.

10 U.S Code grants the Commander in Chief control over the National Guard. Included within Chapter 13 is the Insurrection Act of 1807, which President Thomas Jefferson signed. It reads:

Whenever the President considers that unlawful obstructions, combinations, or assemblages, or rebellion against the authority of the United States, make it impracticable to enforce the laws of the United States in any State by the ordinary course of judicial proceedings, he may call into Federal service such of the militia of any State, and use such of the armed forces, as he considers necessary to enforce those laws or to suppress the rebellion.

President Trump is arguing that Governor Newsom has taken measures to prevent ICE from performing its duties to protect the country from violent criminals. Thus, using the National Guard is warranted based on the Insurrection Act.

Of course, the far Left is going to respond that the level of protests hasn’t risen to the degree needed for military troops. As you’ve likely seen, many far-Left Members of Congress, such as Senator Cory Booker (NJ), have been calling the riots “peaceful protests.”

Former Acting Director of National Intelligence Ric Grenell – and a longtime California resident – reacted to Trump’s invoking the Insurrection Act:

We welcome peaceful protests, of course. This is America, but at the end of the day, you can’t stop what law enforcement is trying to do, which is to keep our streets safe. . . . I live in Los Angeles, and my neighbors are freaking out. They don’t want to see riots. We just got through the fires, and we have communities that have been upended. My community is flooded with people from Pacific Palisades who are trying to start a new life. . . .

President Trump is trying to . . . send in more of the good guys, more people who want to calm the situation down, and I don’t understand how Gavin Newsom thinks that sending in more police is somehow antagonistic. The only way you can think that sending in more police is antagonistic is if you hate the police. If you’re somebody who doesn’t want law enforcement, and by the way, Gavin Newsom is the author and creator of sanctuary cities and states. This is a term that sounds so nice, but at the end of the day, . . . it’s an attack on the rule of law. And so I think having more law enforcement officials is a good thing when there are riots.

Essentially, we have another attack on Executive authority. We’ve already filed eight amicus briefs to defend Executive powers thus far. A federal judge just agreed with our amicus brief, rejecting the DNC’s latest lawsuit.

And we have a case pending at the U.S. Supreme Court to halt rogue activist judges from blocking Trump’s agenda. We should receive a decision from the Supreme Court soon.

Today’s Sekulow broadcast included a full analysis of Governor Gavin Newsom threatening to sue the Trump Administration over the military being sent to stop the LA riots.

Watch the full broadcast below: