On June 11, 2025, days after the Los Angeles protests began in an attempt to fire back at federal agents imposing ICE raids on undocumented citizens, press secretary Karole Leavitt spoke to the media. She addressed the events in Los Angeles, but what stood out to many, according to a video shared by Forbes on YouTube, was the fact that Leavitt called out California Governor Gavin Newsom.
Although the point of the press briefing was to take questions from the press, Leavitt began the event with a speech of her own. Not only did she speak out against Newsom’s behavior and reaction to the protests, but she also said Los Angeles Major Karen Bass did not meet her “sworn obligations” to protect the city.
Karoline Leavitt has called out Newsom and the mayor of Los Angeles.
During the press briefing on June 11, Leavitt began by saying that Donald Trump’s goal is to “preserve law and order.” She also cited images and clips from the demonstrations throughout the city, where words of frustration were spray painted across US flags or city property. According to Leavitt, both Bass and Newsom failed the city.
“President Trump will never allow mob rule to prevail in America,” Leavitt said during the briefing. “The most basic duty of government is to preserve law and order, and this administration embraces that sacred responsibility. Democrats like Governor Gavin Newsom and Mayor Karen Bass shamefully failed to meet their sworn obligations to their citizens. They didn’t have the courage to do the right thing and protect law-abiding Californians from protesters. That’s why President Trump deployed the National Guard and mobilized Marines to end the chaos and restore law and order.”
She went on to claim that both Bass and Newsom “fanned the flames” for protesters and “demonized” ICE officials in the city.
“Gavin Newsom claimed that in order for the protests and the violence to stop, ICE needed to leave and immigration raids must end,” Leavitt added. “In other words, the position of the Democrat Party is that the federal government is not allowed to enforce our laws and to arrest and deport illegal alien criminals.”
Gavin Newsom did nothing as violent riots erupted in Los Angeles for days.
— Karoline Leavitt (@PressSec) June 9, 2025
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… https://t.co/kuoBOs4rUJ
Karoline Leavitt spoke out about the LA protests too.
Prior to the June 11 press briefing, Leavitt posted on X (formerly Twitter) about the LA demonstrations from residents who wanted ICE and federal agents to leave the city. In her post, she called out Newsom and defended Trump’s decision to deploy US Marines to LA.
“President Trump has stepped in to maintain law and order and protect federal buildings,” she wrote. As for Newsom, Leavitt also wrote in the same X post, “Gavin Newsom did nothing as violent protests erupted in Los Angeles for days.”
Per The New York Times, 700 Marines and more than 2,000 National Guards troops were sent to Los Angeles to get the protests under control. The newspaper also reported that Trump went as far as to call the protesters “insurrectionists.” Despite laws stating that US soldiers are to be deployed within the country only under the most dire circumstances, thousands were sent to LA.
