President Donald Trump on Monday suggested it would be “great” if California Governor Gavin Newsom were arrested, escalating a tense standoff between the two leaders over ongoing protests in Los Angeles.
Trump, 78, authorized the deployment of the National Guard to the city over the weekend in response to unrest linked to federal immigration raids. Notably, he bypassed Governor Newsom’s consent, marking the first time in six decades a U.S. president has taken such unilateral action in a domestic deployment.
Tensions flared further after Trump’s former acting ICE director Tom Homan claimed that Newsom and Los Angeles Mayor Karen Bass could face federal charges for allegedly obstructing immigration enforcement. In response, Newsom, 57, publicly dared Homan to arrest him.
“If I were Tom, I would do it. I think it’s great,” Trump said when asked about Homan’s comments, speaking as he arrived at the White House aboard Marine One. “Gavin likes the publicity, but I think it would be a great thing.”
Trump also criticized Newsom’s handling of the situation, saying, “Look, I like Gavin Newsom, he’s a nice guy but he’s grossly incompetent, everybody knows it.” He added that Newsom, widely seen as a potential 2028 Democratic presidential contender, had failed to control the protests.
While downplaying the risk of broader conflict, Trump warned, “I don’t want a civil war, but civil war would happen if you left it to people like him.”
Governor Newsom, for his part, accused Trump of manufacturing a political crisis and insisted that local authorities were fully capable of managing the protests without federal intervention. In an interview on MSNBC Sunday, Newsom challenged Homan: “Come after me, arrest me, let’s just get it over with, tough guy.”
Later on Monday, the governor labeled Trump’s actions as “dictatorial” following reports that the administration had deployed 700 active-duty Marines to the Los Angeles area.
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