Hegseth says he anticipates military will remain in LA for 60 days
Pete Hegseth has told the House committee that he’s anticipating military personnel to stay in Los Angeles for 60 days to “ensure that those rioters, looters and thugs on the other side assaulting our police officers know that we’re not going anywhere”.
Key events
Trump says anyone who protests at Saturday’s military parade ‘will be met with very heavy force’
Donald Trump warned people against protesting at this weekend’s military parade in Washington to celebrate the US Army’s 250th anniversary.
“For those people that want to protest, they’re going to be met with very big force,” Trump told reporters in the Oval Office. “I haven’t even heard about a protest, but you know, this is people that hate our country, but they will be met with very heavy force.”
Newsom says Trump did not call him after president says they spoke ‘a day ago’
Contrary to what Trump just told reporters in the Oval Office, Gavin Newsom has said “there was no call. Not even a voicemail,” to him from the president.
Trump earlier said he last spoke to Newsom “a day ago”.
“I called him up to tell him he’s gotta do a better job,” Trump said, claiming without evidence that the governor was “causing a lot of potential death”.
“Americans should be alarmed that a President deploying Marines onto our streets doesn’t even know who he’s talking to,” Newsom wrote on X.
There was no call. Not even a voicemail.
Americans should be alarmed that a President deploying Marines onto our streets doesn’t even know who he’s talking to. https://t.co/y7TJUhUZGI
— Gavin Newsom (@GavinNewsom) June 10, 2025
Kristi Noem attacks Tim Walz’s handling of 2020 protests after police murder of George Floyd
Homeland security secretary Kristi Noem has told reporters in the Oval Office she watched Tim Walz “let his city burn” in 2020.
She is referring to the protests that took place in Minneapolis, Minnesota, where Walz was and still is governor, in the wake of the police murder of George Floyd. As the protests got more serious, Walz ordered a partial mobilization of the National Guard on 28 May 2020, before ordering a full mobilization on 30 May 2020.
There has been a nuanced debate around Walz’s response to the riots and whether he deployed the National Guard quickly enough, with Walz himself acknowledging a level of “abject failure” on his part. He drew sharp criticism from Minnesota Republicans at the time, and the issue was revived by the GOP when he announced as Kamala Harris’s running mate last year.
Back in the Oval Office today, Noem implied that Trump’s decision for federal intervention in LA was important to preventing scenes such as those in Minneapolis in 2020.
The president and I talked about this in the past and he was not going to let that happen to another city and another community where a bad governor made a bad decision.
Defense secretary Pete Hegseth also earlier tried to compare Walz and California governor Gavin Newsom’s respective handling of the protests, saying:
President Trump recognizes a situation like that, improperly handled by a governor, like it was by Governor Waltz … If it gets out of control, it’s a bad situation for the citizens of any location.
In fact, in June 2020, then-president Donald Trump had heaped praise on Walz for his state-controlled use of the National Guard, telling a conference call of governors:
What they did in Minneapolis was incredible. They went in and dominated, and it happened immediately.
Trump’s tune changed in July last year when he was the Republican presidential nominee, and also falsely took credit for mobilizing the National Guard:
Every voter in Minnesota needs to know that when the violent mobs of anarchists and looters and Marxists came to burn down Minneapolis four years ago – remember me? – I couldn’t get your governor to act. He’s supposed to call in the National Guard or the Army. And he didn’t do it.
Trump claims that he stopped the violence in LA “by doing what I did”.
‘When there’s no danger, they’ll leave,’ says Trump on how long National Guard will remain in California
Asked how long the National Guard will be in California, Trump says “until there’s no danger”.
“It’s common sense … When there’s no danger, they’ll leave,” he adds, repeating his claim that “you would’ve had a horrible situation had I not sent them in”.
Trump repeats his claim that anti-Ice demonstrators in Los Angeles are “paid insurrectionists, or agitators, or troublemakers, you can call it whatever you want”.
My colleague Tess Owen wrote about this use of language here:
Trump says he last spoke to Newsom “a day ago”.
“I called him up to tell him he’s gotta do a better job,” Trump says, claiming without evidence that the governor was “causing a lot of potential death”.
Asked about California governor Gavin Newsom earlier suggesting Marines were being used as “political pawns”, Trump said:
I just want a safe area. Los Angeles was under siege until we got there. The police were unable to handle it. You can speak to the chief. He said ‘this is more than we can handle’.
In this case, they were trying their best but they were not able to handle it. It was out of control.
Trump on Insurrection Act: ‘If there’s an insurrection I would certainly invoke it’
Asked whether he would invoke the Insurrection Act in response to protests in LA, Trump has just told reporters in the Oval Office:
If there’s an insurrection, I would certainly invoke it. We’ll see.
He continued, calling the past two days in LA “terrible”.
Asked how he would determine if there was an “insurrection”, Trump said he would “take a look at what’s happening”, adding that he believed there were certain areas of LA that seemed to experience where “you could’ve called it an insurrection”.
Marines arrive in LA area on Trump’s orders after quieter night of protest – NYT
The approximately 700 Marines deployed by the Trump administration after protests erupted against Ice immigration raids have arrived in the Los Angeles area, the US Northern Command said on Tuesday, according to the New York Times (paywall).
A spokeswoman for the command, Becky Farmer, told the NYT she could not comment further on their specific location.
Trump administration to cut all USAID overseas roles and axe thousands of staff
The Trump administration will eliminate all USAID (United States Agency for International Development) overseas positions worldwide by 30 September in a dramatic restructuring of remaining US foreign aid operations.
In a Tuesday state department cable obtained by the Guardian, secretary of state Marco Rubio ordered the abolishment of the agency’s entire international workforce, transferring control of foreign assistance programs directly to the state department.
The directive affects thousands of USAID staff globally, including foreign service officers, contractors and locally employed personnel across more than 100 countries. Chiefs of mission at US embassies have been told to prepare for the sweeping changes to occur within four months.
“The Department of State is streamlining procedures under National Security Decision Directive 38 to abolish all USAID overseas positions,” the cable reads, adding that the department “will assume responsibility for foreign assistance programming previously undertaken by USAID” from 15 June.
The state department did not respond to a request for comment.
Trump’s deployment of troops to Los Angeles to cost an estimated $134 million, Pentagon says
Donald Trump’s deployment of troops to Los Angeles is estimated to cost about $134m, a senior Pentagon official said on Tuesday.
Bryn MacDonnell, who is performing the duties of comptroller at the Pentagon, told lawmakers that the cost included the cost of travel, housing and food for the troops.
The Pentagon has said that it will deploy a total of over 4,000 National Guard troops and 700 Marines to Los Angeles to help protect federal property and personnel.
Hegseth says he anticipates military will remain in LA for 60 days
Pete Hegseth has told the House committee that he’s anticipating military personnel to stay in Los Angeles for 60 days to “ensure that those rioters, looters and thugs on the other side assaulting our police officers know that we’re not going anywhere”.
Kristi Noem sought military arrests in LA but request was not granted – San Francisco Chronicle
The day before the Trump administration mobilized 700 Marines to downtown Los Angeles, homeland security secretary Kristi Noem asked defense secretary Pete Hegseth to direct the military to detain or arrest “lawbreakers”, according to the San Francisco Chronicle (paywall).
A letter sent from Noem to Hegseth on Sunday, obtained by the Chronicle, requested that the Pentagon give “Direction to DoD forces to either detain, just as they would at any federal facility guarded by military, lawbreakers under Title 18 until they can be arrested and processed by federal law enforcement, or arrest them.”
Under federal law, the military is generally barred from taking part in domestic law enforcement. Granting Noem’s request would likely require the administration to sidestep those laws by invoking the Insurrection Act (Donald Trump has downplayed suggestions that he plans to do that).
However, the Chronicle reports, a homeland security spokesperson suggested today that the request was not granted after Noem and Hegseth met with Trump, saying: “The posture of our brave troops has not changed.”
Noem also asked Hegseth for “drone surveillance support”, as well as weapons and logistics assistance, per the Chronicle’s report.
Chris Stein
California congressman Pete Aguilar pressed defense secretary Pete Hegseth further on why it was necessary to deploy US Marines against civilian protesters in Los Angeles.
“What’s the justification for using the military for civilian law enforcement purposes in LA? Why are you sending war fighters to cities to interact with civilians?” Aguilar asked.
“Every American citizen deserves to live in a community that’s safe, and Ice agents need to be able to do their job. They’re being attacked for doing their job, which is deporting illegal criminals. That shouldn’t happen in any city, Minneapolis or Los Angeles, and if they’re attacked, that’s lawless,” Hegseth replied.
Aguilar then asked the secretary to point to Donald Trump’s legal grounds for deploying troops domestically, noting that under the law he has used, that can only be done on three grounds: to counter “invasion by a foreign nation, … dangerous rebellion against the authority of the government of the United States or [if] the president is unable with regular forces to execute the laws of the United States.”
“I don’t know. You just read it yourself, so people can listen themselves, but it sounds like all three to me,” Hegseth shot back. He then claimed that “you’ve got millions of illegals you don’t know where they’re coming from” and “they’re waving flags from foreign countries and assaulting police officers”.
“The governor of California has failed to protect his people, along with the mayor of Los Angeles,” Hegseth continued. “President Trump has all the authorities necessary, and thankfully, he’s willing to do it on behalf of the citizens of Los Angeles.”
House speaker says Newsom should be ‘tarred and feathered’ over handling of LA protests
Republican House speaker Mike Johnson declined to answer whether he agreed with Donald Trump that California governor Gavin Newsom should be arrested over his handling of protests against immigration raids in Los Angeles..
“That’s not my lane,” Johnson told reporters on Tuesday.
I’m not going to give you legal analysis on whether Gavin Newsom should be arrested.
But he ought to be tarred and feathered, I’ll say that.
Q: “Do you believe that Newsom should face consequences in a legal way?”
.@SpeakerJohnson: “That’s not my lane. I’m not going to give you legal analysis on whether Gavin Newsom should be arrested but he ought to be tarred and feathered, I’ll say that.” pic.twitter.com/7C50t1rrE6
— CSPAN (@cspan) June 10, 2025
Benjamin Lee
Celebrities have reacted to the ongoing chaos in Los Angeles, calling out Ice officials and praising those protesting against them.
Oscar-nominated actor Mark Ruffalo posted a lengthy message on Instagram referring to the “oligarchy” that Americans now find themselves in. “You are pointing your guns in the wrong direction,” he wrote. “Can’t you see that maybe we are being tricked to tear each other apart while they rake it in?”
His message saw a positive response from names including Halle Berry, Pedro Pascal, Marisa Tomei and Melanie Griffith. Pascal also shared a video celebrating the diversity of America, writing: “Los Ángeles. Built by the best of U.S. #Protect our #Protectors #RESIST.”
Tyler, the Creator also posted an Instagram story, writing “Fuck Ice” while singer Kehlani, who was recently barred from performing at Cornell University for her anti-genocide comments, wrote: “Long live the resistance”.
As we reported earlier, rapper Doechii used her acceptance speech at last night’s BET awards o express outrage over the situation. “There are ruthless attacks that are creating fear and chaos in our communities in the name of law and order,” she said. “Trump is using military forces to stop a protest.” She added: “We all deserve to live in hope and not in fear.”
Director Ava DuVernay, who recently called out Trump’s criminal behaviour in a rousing speech, wrote about the hypocrisy of what’s happening. “I’m witnessing tear gas and non-lethal rounds being unleashed on peaceful protesters in DTLA,” she wrote in an Instagram story. “People of all ages and stripes from all over the city, raising their voices. And being treated worse than January 6 terrorists.”
