President Trump stated on Monday that if he held the position of border enforcement chief Tom Homan, he wouldn’t hesitate to place California Governor Gavin Newsom under arrest, following violent unrest connected to anti-ICE demonstrators in Los Angeles over the weekend.
“I would do it, if I were Tom,” Trump said as he spoke to reporters upon arriving back at the White House from Camp David.
“Gavin likes the publicity, but I think it would be a great thing,” the president added.
“I like Gavin Newsom. He’s a nice guy, but he’s grossly incompetent, everybody knows that.”
The confrontation escalated after Newsom publicly challenged Homan during a Sunday night interview with NBC News, saying the Trump administration official should “come after me. Arrest me. Let’s just get it over with, tough guy.”
On Monday, Newsom followed up on social media with a sharp response to Trump’s remarks: “The President of the United States just called for the arrest of a sitting Governor. This is a day I hoped I would never see in America. I don’t care if you’re a Democrat or a Republican this is a line we cannot cross as a nation — this is an unmistakable step toward authoritarianism.”
Homan had earlier suggested that both Governor Newsom and Los Angeles Mayor Karen Bass could potentially face prosecution for interfering with federal agents attempting to detain illegal immigrants.
“I’ll say it about anybody,” Homan said during an NBC interview on Shabbos.
“You cross that line, it’s a felony to knowingly harbor and conceal an illegal alien. It’s a felony to impede law enforcement doing their job.”
By Monday morning, Homan had softened his language, appearing on NBC once again to clarify his remarks. “I never threatened to arrest Governor Newsom,” he said, claiming his comments had been misconstrued.
President Trump had already taken action over the weekend, directing 2,000 National Guard troops to be dispatched to California in response to escalating demonstrations.
Troops began arriving Sunday, as fires broke out and demonstrators waved foreign flags, including that of Mexico, in support of undocumented immigrants.
“We made a great decision in sending the National Guard to deal with the violent, instigated riots in California. If we had not done so, Los Angeles would have been completely obliterated,” Trump posted on Truth Social while returning to Washington from Camp David.
He went on to mock local leadership in a sarcastic tone: “The very incompetent ‘Governor,’ Gavin Newscum, and ‘Mayor,’ Karen Bass, should be saying, ‘THANK YOU, PRESIDENT TRUMP, YOU ARE SO WONDERFUL. WE WOULD BE NOTHING WITHOUT YOU, SIR.’ Instead, they choose to lie to the People of California and America by saying that we weren’t needed, and that these are ‘peaceful protests.’”
Trump concluded with a vow to uphold public safety, writing, “we will always do what is needed to keep our Citizens SAFE, so we can, together, MAKE AMERICA GREAT AGAIN!”
{Matzav.com}
Newsom didn’t make his argument back when it seemed Trump would be arrested for committing a crime.