Closing summary
This ends our live coverage of the second Trump administration for the day, and its impact on the nation, but we will be back on Friday. In the meantime, here are the day’s major developments:
A federal judge ruled that Donald Trump acted illegally when he commandeered the California national guard and ordered thousands of troops to Los Angeles amid protests over immigration raids. The troops return to the control of California’s governor, Gavin Newsom, at noon on Friday.
Senator Alex Padilla, a California Democrat, was roughly ejected from a news conference in Los Angeles and handcuffed when he tried to ask the homeland security secretary Kristi Noem a question – why she was focusing her remarks on a handful of people charged with violent crimes , when immigration raids have targeted undocumented immigrants with no criminal record.
Video of Padilla’s interruption of Noem appeared to show that her claim that the senator had been lunging at her when he was stopped was untrue. Padilla later called that charge a “ridiculous” lie.
“We are not involved in strikes against Iran,” the US secretary of state Marco Rubio said in a statement. “Let me be clear: Iran should not target US interests or personnel.”
The San Francisco judge who ruled against Trump, Charles Breyer, is the brother of the former supreme court justice Stephen Breyer, which could well form a key part of the president’s appeal in the court of social media.
The House narrowly voted to pass a package of cuts to federal funding previously appropriated by Congress, including spending on disease prevention overseas, and the 0.01% of the federal budget that supports public broadcasting by NPR and PBS.
Updated
At his news conference in the wake of a ruling in his favor in Newsom v Trump, returning his control over California’s National Guard, Gavin Newsom laughed at Trump’s social media post that seemed to criticize his own administration’s immigration raids on farms.
“This is what he does: he creates a problem, and then he tries to be a hero in his own Marvel movie”, Newsom said. “He initiated those raids. He significantly increased the scale and scope of those raids. That’s why he wants the National Guard.”
Updated
Newsom says use of National Guard for Ice raids 'ends tomorrow at noon'
Speaking to reporters after a federal judge in San Francisco ruled on Friday that Donald Trump acted illegally, by ordering the National Guard to Los Angeles, and the troops must be returned to state control, California’s governor Gavin Newsom said that the use of the guard to support immigration raids “end tomorrow at noon”.
The senior district judge, Charles Breyer, wrote in his order that he was granting a preliminary injunction.
“At this early stage of the proceedings, the Court must determine whether the President followed the congressionally mandated procedure for his actions” the judge wrote in his 36-page order. “He did not. His actions were illegal—both exceeding the scope of his statutory authority and violating the Tenth Amendment to the United States Constitution. He must therefore return control of the California National Guard to the Governor of the State of California forthwith.”
Newsom also said that Trump is not a monarch, and that the nickname the president has been using for him, “Newscum”, was previously hurled at him in eighth grade.
He hinted that some part of his recent phone conversation with Trump “would send shivers up your spine”, but declined to reveal details because, he said, he reveres the office of the presidency. He has quite literally made up components of that conversation. He has been a stone cold liar about what he said we talked about”.
Updated
The Secretary of state, Marco Rubio, issued this statement distancing the United States from the strikes on Iran by its close military ally, Israel:
Tonight, Israel took unilateral action against Iran. We are not involved in strikes against Iran and our top priority is protecting American forces in the region. Israel advised us that they believe this action was necessary for its self-defense. President Trump and the Administration have taken all necessary steps to protect our forces and remain in close contact with our regional partners. Let me be clear: Iran should not target U.S. interests or personnel.
Judge rules Trump illegally called up National Guard and must return control of troops in LA to governor
In a ruling on Friday, Judge Charles Breyer temporarily barred Donald Trump from deploying National Guard troops in Los Angeles and ordered the National Guard to return to the control of California’s governor, Gavin Newsom, who sued Trump over the move. Breyer’s order in Newsom v. Trump will take effect at noon on Friday.
“At this early stage of the proceedings, the Court must determine whether the President followed the congressionally mandated procedure for his actions” the judge wrote in his 36-page order. “He did not. His actions were illegal—both exceeding the scope of his statutory authority and violating the Tenth Amendment to the United States Constitution. He must therefore return control of the California National Guard to the Governor of the State of California forthwith.”
“Defendants are temporarily ENJOINED from deploying members of the California National Guard in Los Angeles”, the judge concluded. “Defendants are DIRECTED to return control of the California National Guard to Governor Newsom”.
The Trump administration immediately filed an appeal of the order.
The senior district judge, who was assigned by a random selection process to the case, is the younger brother of retired supreme court justice Stephen Breyer.
Charles Breyer is a former Watergate prosecutor, and a graduate of Harvard, who was first nominated to the federal bench by Bill Clinton in 1997.
Updated
Padilla calls Noem's claim that he lunged at her 'a lie' in MSNBC interview
In an interview with MSNBC on Thursday evening, senator Alex Padilla accused homeland security secretary Kristi Noem of telling a ‘ridiculous’ lie by claiming that he ‘lunged’ at her before being forced out of a news conference and handcuffed by federal agents.
Padilla said that he had been in the Wilshire federal building in Los Angeles for a scheduled briefing when he heard that there was a news conference and said that he would like to listen in.
Then, he said, a few minutes into the deeply partisan remarks Noem read to start the event, he decided to object.
“I’m sitting in the back of the room, behind the cameras, behind the reporters, listening, listening”, Padilla said. “And at one point, it was just too much to take. Not the first, but the second attack on the political leadership of California, and this notion that Donald Trump and Kristi Noem have to come in and rescue the people of Los Angeles from Gavin Newsom and Karen Bass? It was too much. And so I spoke up.”
“I didn’t barge into the room” he added, rejecting Noem’s characterization of the incident. “The folks that were escorting me in the building walked me over. I didn’t even open the door. The door was opened for me. And I spent a few minutes in the back of the room just listening in until the rhetoric, the political rhetoric got to be too much to take. So I spoke up.”
As video of the incident shows, Padilla moved to the front of the room, but was no closer to Noem than several reporters when he interrupted to ask a question.
He also explained that after someone from Noem’s team realized that he was who he said he was, she agreed to meet with him after the news conference. And then, he said, he got to ask the question he was trying to ask in the press conference., which was about why the Trump administration claims it is going after violent criminals, but “we hear story after story after story of non-violent migrants who, many are working in very essential jobs for our economy, being rounded up.”
Israel has reportedly carried out strikes on Iran
Israel has carried out strikes in Iran, but without US involvement or US assistance, officials tell Reuters.
That report comes after Iran’s state-run Nour News said that explosions were heard northeast of Iran’s capital Tehran early on Friday.
The Israeli newspaper Haartez reports that the country’s defense minister said that following a preemptive Israeli strike against Iran, a missile and drone attack against Israel and its civilian population is expected in the immediate future.
A Times of Israel military correspondent reports on X that Israel’s military “confirms it has launched an aerial campaign against Iran’s nuclear program. Dozens of targets across Iran related to the nuclear program and other military facilities are being struck by the Israeli Air Force, it says.”
“The IDF says Iran has enough enriched uranium to build several bombs within days, and it needs to act against this ‘imminent threat.’ Sirens that sounded across Israel a short while ago were a preemptive warning issued by the IDF, ahead of a possible reaction by Iran.”
Updated
A federal judge expressed skepticism on Thursday with the Trump administration’s arguments that the president has the power to federalize national guard troops and deploy them to suppress protests against immigration raids in Los Angeles.
The US district judge, Charles Breyer, said he intends to rule on California’s request for an injunction halting the deployment “very soon”, and that he was hopeful his ruling would come by the end of the day. He said he would also decide on whether the justice department could stay the order pending appeal.
The justice department argued at a roughly hourlong hearing that under the Title 10 statute invoked by Trump, the US president had the power to decide whether the protests had escalated and required the national guard to quell a “rebellion or a danger of rebellion”.
But Breyer said that the statute was not structured in a way that suggested Trump would have the power to be the sole determiner of whether such conditions had been met.
“If the president had complete discretion, why wouldn’t it say: ‘Whenever the president thought’ or ‘if the president agrees’ or ‘in the sole discretion of the president, he finds one, two and three’,” Breyer said to the justice department. “They don’t say any of that.”
Although the protests have generally been peaceful with the exceptions of pockets that turned violent, the justice department contended Trump’s absolute discretion meant his underlying basis for his decisions could not be reviewed by federal courts.
The judge appeared particularly incredulous at the notion there could be no judicial review. “If the president finds there to be a rebellion, then it is a rebellion,” Breyer said with his voice sharply rising in intonation. “How is that any different to what a monarchist does?”
CBS video of Padilla interrupting Noem with a question appears to undermine her claim that he lunged at her
In the hours since the senator Alex Padilla, a California Democrat, was forcibly removed from a press conference in Los Angeles for trying to ask the homeland security secretary Kristi Noem a question, Noem and her spokesperson have claimed repeatedly that Padilla had failed to identify himself and acted in a threatening manner.
“This man burst into the room, started lunging towards the podium, interrupting me and elevating his voice and was stopped, did not identify himself and was removed from the room,” Noem told Fox News on Thursday evening. “As soon as he identified himself, appropriate actions were taken.”
“People need to identify themselves before they start lunging at people at press conferences” the secretary told another reporter.
Her account of what happened was amplified in social-media posts from the homeland security spokesperson, Tricia McLaughlin, who maintained that Padilla “lunged toward Secretary Noem”, and from the department’s official X account, which used the same words.
Because the incident was so sudden, and most cameras were trained on Noem as she began the press conference with deeply partisan prepared remarks, much of the initial video that circulated online did not actually show where Padilla was standing in relation to Noem when he tried to interrupt with his question.
But one CBS News camera captured the exact moment that Padilla interrupted Noem, just after she had said that federal forces, including the military, deployed by the Trump administration to Los Angeles to aid in immigration sweeps “are not going away. We are staying here to liberate this city from the socialist and the burdensome leadership that this governor and that this mayor have placed on this country, and what they have tried to insert into this city.”
Video from CBS News of the moment when Senator Alex Padilla interrupted Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem's news conference in Los Angeles on Thursday shows that he was not close to or lunging at her, and she continued with her prepared remarks pic.twitter.com/Poyal5bniG
— Robert Mackey (@RobertMackey) June 12, 2025
It was at this point in the CBS recording that Padilla could be heard beginning his question with the words: “Madame secretary, I want to know why you insist on exaggerating.” As Noem continued reading her remarks, without even pausing, the CBS camera panned to show Padilla, at some distance from her across the room.
Just three seconds into the incident, Padilla could be seen standing, with his left hand raised slightly in a rhetorical gesture, trying to continue with his question, as a security officer placed his hands on the senator’s chest and back and began pushing him away from the front of the room.
There is no visual evidence in the clip to suggest that Padilla was moving in Noem’s direction when he started speaking, or was ever within 10-15ft (3-3.5 metres) of her.
Noem’s decision to ignore the interruption and continue reading her remarks also did not look or sound like the behavior of someone who had been lunged at.
Democrats, including the senator Tina Smith of Minnesota, pointed out that video of the incident also made it plain that Noem’s second claim, that Padilla did not identify himself, was false. At the nine-second mark of the CBS clip, the senator can clearly be heard telling the officers pulling him from the room: “I am Senator Alex Padilla. I have questions for the secretary.”
“Liars,” Smith replied on social media to a post from the official homeland security account that said that Padilla had not identified himself.
Updated
Katie Porter, the former Democratic representative from southern California, who is now running to be the next governor of the state, called the video of the senator Alex Padilla being forced out of a homeland security news conference in LA on Thursday “outrageous”.
Writing on Bluesky, she added:
Senator Padilla was tackled and restrained - and, as I understand it, later handcuffed - simply for asking questions of DHS Sec Noem at a public press conference.
He’s right to be asking questions! People across the political spectrum are very concerned about Trump’s illegal and politically motivated militarization of LA.
Updated
The senator Lisa Murkowski, an Alaska Republican, told CBS News on Thursday that video of her Democratic colleague from California, Alex Padilla, being forcibly removed from a press conference in Los Angeles as he tried to ask the homeland security secretary Kristi Noem a question, was “horrible”.
“It is shocking, at every level,” Murkowski added. “It’s not the America I know.”
Updated
Members of the congressional Hispanic caucus said they paid visits to the offices of the Senate majority leader John Thune and the speaker of the House Mike Johnson after the handcuffing of the California senator Alex Padilla, but that neither of the Republican leaders were available to meet with them.
“Senator Padilla was there to express his opinion. Senator Padilla was there to ask questions. Senator Padilla was there because his office is also in that same building. That’s why senator Padilla was there,” said the Democratic representative Adriano Espaillat, the caucus’s chair. “I feel this amounts to an assault, a felony, and we want a full and complete investigation of this matter immediately.”
He tied the incident to Donald Trump’s hardline enforcement of immigration policy, which has been marked by aggressive waves of arrests by federal agents of people suspected of being in the country illegally.
“We are concerned that this is totally out of control. The weaponization of immigration has taken us to a place in America where we’ve never been before. So divided, so split, so violent and aggressive that obviously you saw those officers there, that detail there, whoever it was, very aggressive, while the senator attempted several times to say that he was a US senator, he identified himself,” Espaillat said.
“We will not let this go. We will continue to push forward. We are here to save America from a dictatorship.”
Updated
I am in the Capitol, and just heard the Republican speaker of the House of Representatives Mike Johnson defend the handcuffing of the California senator Alex Padilla.
“A sitting member of Congress should not act like that. It is beneath a member of the Congress, it is beneath a US senator,” he said, calling Padilla’s actions “wildly inappropriate”.
He added: “They’re supposed to lead by example. That is not a good example. We have to turn the temperature down in this country and not escalate it. The Democrat party is on the wrong side. They’re defending lawbreakers, and now they’re acting like lawbreakers themselves.”
Johnson accused Padilla of “charging a cabinet secretary at a press conference”.
Asked whether Padilla should be investigated, he replied: “It’s not my decision to make. I’m not in that chamber, but I do think that it merits immediate attention by my other colleagues over there … I think that that behavior, at a minimum, it rises to the level of a censure.”
As he spoke, Democratic lawmakers walking by heckled him, with one yelling: “That’s a lie!”
Updated
House votes to pull $1.1bn in federal funding from NPR and PBS
The House narrowly voted on Thursday to cut about $9.4bn in spending already approved by Congress as Donald Trump’s administration looks to follow through on work by the so-called “department of government efficiency” when it was overseen by Elon Musk, the Associated Press reports.
The package targets foreign aid programs and the Corporation for Public Broadcasting, which provides money for National Public Radio and the Public Broadcasting Service, as well as thousands of public radio and television stations around the country. The vote was 214-212.
Republicans are characterizing the spending as wasteful and unnecessary, but Democrats say the rescissions are hurting the United States’s standing in the world and will lead to needless deaths.
“Cruelty is the point,” the Democratic leader, Hakeem Jeffries of New York, said of the proposed spending cuts.
The Trump administration is employing a tool rarely used in recent years that allows the president to transmit a request to Congress to cancel previously appropriated funds. That triggers a 45-day clock in which the funds are frozen pending congressional action. If Congress fails to act within that period, then the spending stands.
As NPR reports, the measure “would slash $1.1 billion for the Corporation for Public Broadcasting, which allocates nearly all of the funds to local stations, for the next two fiscal years. By law, that money is supposed to be approved in advance as part of an effort to insulate public broadcasting from political influence over fleeting issues.”
The broadcaster notes that the representative Steve Scalise, the Republican majority leader, said last week that the legislation “codifies President Trump’s cuts to wasteful foreign aid initiatives within the State Department and USAID, as well as woke public broadcasting, including NPR and PBS, at the Corporation for Public Broadcasting, which is a business the federal government shouldn’t even be in”.
“NPR and PBS are targeted here today precisely because they are so good at delivering the truth,” the representative Lloyd Doggett, a Texas Democrat, countered. “Trump doesn’t want a country of engaged, informed Americans. He prefers those who salute on command.”
Cutting funding for NPR and PBS has been a goal of Republicans for decades. In a 2012 presidential election debate, the Republican nominee Mitt Romney said that he would cut the federal subsidy for PBS as a way to tackle the national debt, even though, as he said: “I like PBS, I love Big Bird.”
One result of the years of complaints from conservatives about federal spending on public broadcasting is that many Americans vastly overestimate how much of the federal budget goes to non-partisan, fact-based journalism and educational programming.
In a poll conducted for CNN in 2011, respondents were asked to estimate what share of the federal budget was spent on public broadcasting. The correct answer is that CPB gets about one one-hundredth of a percent (0.01%) of the federal budget.
According to the research done for CNN, just 27% of Americans knew that the money for PBS and NPR was less than 1% of government spending. Remarkably, 40% guessed that the share was between 1% and 5% and nearly a third of Americans said it was in excess of 5% . Seven percent of those surveyed guessed that more than half of the entire federal budget was spent on television and radio broadcasts.
Updated
At a hearing in Washington on Thursday, the representative Delia Ramirez, an Illinois Democrat, just screened video of the senator Alex Padilla’s staffer being prevented from filming as his boss was handcuffed by FBI agents.
After playing a section of the clip where Padilla’s staff member was told to stop filming, Ramirez said: “They don’t want you recording so you don’t see how they violate due process repeatedly. I want to make sure that you see that footage.”
Ramirez: They don’t want you recording so you don’t see how they violate due process repeatedly. This is a US Senator asking a question and in return, he is pulled, shoved down the floor, slammed to the ground pic.twitter.com/kJnbzSBv8V
— Acyn (@Acyn) June 12, 2025
“This is a United States senator asking a question of secretary Noem, and in return, he is pulled from the press conference, shoved down the floor slammed to the ground,” she added.
Updated
“What happened to Senator Alex Padilla is nothing less than an outrageous abuse of power and a direct assault on our democracy,” Roman Palomares, the president of the League of United Latin American Citizens (Lulac), a civil rights group, said in a statement that linked to video of the senator being forced to the ground and handcuffed by federal agents on Thursday.
He added:
That a Latino US Senator was physically removed from a public press event simply because he dared to ask tough questions of a federal cabinet official is unacceptable and will not be silently tolerated in our country. LULAC demands an immediate investigation and appropriate charges against those responsible for laying hands on an elected lawmaker performing his constitutional duty. Every American – regardless of party – should be enraged by this attack on free speech and civil accountability. We salute Senator Padilla for his courage and resolve in standing up for our community and the Constitution.
Updated
Democratic National Committee chair blasts 'sickening assault'
Ken Martin, the chair of the Democratic National Committee, joined in the criticism of what he called “the sickening assault” on the senator Alex Padilla.
In a statement, Martin wrote:
This assault on US Senator Alex Padilla has sent a violent message to all of America: If you dissent against Donald Trump and openly disagree with the government, then you are not safe in our country. It doesn’t matter if you are a duly elected official – if you ask questions, if you stand up to Trump and Kristi Noem’s abuse of power, then government thugs will come after you. Make no mistake: This horrifying escalation of violence is straight out of an authoritarian playbook. Trump is a weak man, yet he’s desperate to look strong as more Americans become enraged by the chaos he’s inciting in California. His dangerous approach to immigration enforcement stokes fear, profiles Black and Brown communities, rips families apart, and sows violence.
Trump is out of control. He’s now using federal law enforcement to silence those who are exercising their rights. This has nothing to do with law and order – it’s a disgusting abuse of power.
Updated
Kamala Harris decries 'stunning abuse of power'
Kamala Harris, the former vice-president who previously held the California senate seat now occupied by Alex Padilla, also denounced his treatment by armed federal agents on Thursday.
Harris shared video of the incident on X, with the comment:
United States Senator Alex Padilla was representing the millions of Californians who are demanding answers to this Administration’s actions in Southern California. This is a shameful and stunning abuse of power.
Updated
Elizabeth Warren says Trump administration 'wants to shut down' normal functions of government
The senator Elizabeth Warren, a Massachusetts Democrat, said in a social media video that the forcible removal of her colleague Alex Padilla from a news conference, while trying to conduct oversight of the federal response to protests in LA, is a sign that the White House does not want Congress to do its job.
“What we are really talking about here is a Trump administration that just wants to shut down the ordinary functions of government,” Warren said on her way to raise the matter on the Senate floor.
On Tuesday, a federal grand jury in New Jersey indicted another congressional Democrat, the Representative LaMonica McIver, for allegedly interfering with law enforcement during an oversight visit to an immigration detention center in Newark.
Updated
The forced removal of the senator Alex Padilla from the homeland security secretary’s news conference on Thursday has been condemned by Vanessa Cárdenas, the executive director of America’s Voice, an advocacy group dedicated to immigration reforms that would put “11 million undocumented Americans on a path to full citizenship”.
Cárdenas said in a statement:
The image of a sitting US Senator being violently thrown to the ground and handcuffed – for simply demanding answers from DHS Secretary Noem at a public press conference – is nothing short of chilling. This is not how a democracy operates. These are the brutal, silencing tactics of authoritarian regimes, not the United States of America. We unequivocally condemn this outrageous assault on a duly elected official who represents millions of Americans. Senator Padilla was doing his job – holding power to account. The fact that he was met with force instead of answers is a shameful reflection of an administration that fears scrutiny and thrives on intimidation. This cannot stand.
As we reported earlier, video of the incident recorded by Padilla’s staff shows that he was forced to the ground and placed in handcuffs by three federal agents, two from the FBI and a third wearing a shirt that appeared to identify him as a member of homeland security investigations (HSI). A more widely viewed clip, recorded by a correspondent for Fox News, ended before Padilla was shoved to the ground by the federal agents.
Updated
Padilla urges people to protest peacefully 'just like I was'
“There is a lot of concern, there is a lot of tension, there is a lot of anxiety, and a lot of people are beginning to make plans for what they may or may not do come this Saturday,” Alex Padilla said after he was forcibly removed from a news conference held by the homeland security secretary, Kristi Noem, in Los Angeles.
I encourage everybody to please peacefully protest – just like I was calmly and peacefully listening in that press conference.
Updated
California governor Gavin Newsom echoes this point, posting on X alongside the image of Alex Padilla being handcuffed on the floor:
If they can handcuff a US Senator for asking a question, imagine what they will do to you.
Updated
'If this is how they respond to a senator with a question, imagine what they're doing across the country,' says Padilla
Padilla goes on:
If this is how this administration responds to a senator with a question, if this is how the Department of Homeland Security responds to a senator with a question, you can only imagine what they’re doing to farm workers, to cooks, to day laborers, throughout the LA community and throughout California and throughout the country. We will hold this administration accountable. We’ll have more to say in the coming days.
Updated
'I began to ask a question': statement from senator Alex Padilla
Alex Padilla is reading a statement to the press now.
He says he and his colleagues have been asking DHS for answers on their “increasingly extreme immigration enforcement actions” and their queries have been met with little to no information.
He came to the press conference to hear what Kristi Noem had to say, he said, emphasizing “the right for people to peacefully protest and to stand up for their first amendment – their fundamental - rights”:
I was there peacefully. I had a question, and so I began to ask a question.
I was almost immediately forcibly removed from the room. I was forced to the ground, and I was handcuffed. I was not arrested. I was not detained.
Updated
Video from Padilla's staff shows senator was not resisting when forced to the ground and handcuffed by FBI
Senator Alex Padilla was forced to the ground and handcuffed by FBI agents, despite not resisting, in a longer video clip of the incident provided to a local Fox News anchor by the senator’s staff.
🚨 #BREAKING @SenAlexPadilla tries to interrupt a press conference by @DHSgov Sec @KristiNoem and he’s forcibly removed.
— Elex Michaelson (@Elex_Michaelson) June 12, 2025
California’s senior U.S. Senator was handcuffed and detained.
Video from @AlexPadilla4CA’s staff 🚨 pic.twitter.com/PXfszkBXxo
The video, which was posted on social media by the local FOX LA anchor Elex Michaelson, is significant because it shows more of the incident than a viral clip posted online by a national Fox News correspondent, Bill Melugin, which cuts off before the senator was forced to the ground and placed in handcuffs.
The longer video shows that Padilla was forced first to his knees and then pressed face-down on the floor by a pair of FBI agents and a third officer, whose shirt had the initials HSI, used by homeland security investigations officers.
This extended view of the incident clearly shows that Padilla was forcibly placed in handcuffs long after he had identified himself and allowed the federal agents to push him out of the room where the homeland security secretary Kristi Noem was holding a news conference.
Towards the end of the clip, the person filming is blocked from seeing what is happening and told they are not allowed to record, to which they reply: “That’s my boss, I have to record.”
Despite the fact that the video from Padilla’s staff was provided to Fox LA, the local station posted the less complete version, which ends before the senator was forced to the ground, on its YouTube channel.
Updated
Noem doubles down on claim that Padilla didn't identify himself and 'lunged' toward her
Confirming what Tricia McLaughlin just tweeted, the homeland security secretary Kristi Noem has said she spoke with the Democratic senator Alex Padilla after he was confronted by security and forcibly removed from her news conference in LA earlier.
CNN reports that Noem said after the press conference:
We had a great conversation. Sat down, talked for 10, 15 minutes about operations in LA, some activities of the Department of Homeland Security, and so I thought it was very productive.
She also suggested that Padilla hadn’t identified himself (he did):
I wish that he would have reached out and identified himself and let us know who he was and that he wanted to talk. His approach was something that I don’t think was appropriate.
Asked why the response was to forcibly remove Padilla, Noem deferred questions to law enforcement and doubled down on the claim that Padilla didn’t identify himself first (again, he did):
But I will say that it’s – people need to identify themselves before they start lunging at people during press conferences.
Commenting on the incident during the briefing, Noem said the senator had not requested a meeting with her:
I think everybody in America would agree that that wasn’t appropriate.
If you wanted to have a civil discussion, especially as a leader, a public official, that you would reach out and try to have a conversation.
Updated
DHS claims Padilla 'lunged' toward Noem 'without identifying himself' – despite footage showing he identified himself
Tricia McLaughlin, assistant secretary for the Department of Homeland Security, has claimed the senator Alex Padilla “lunged” toward Kristi Noem during the press conference “without identifying himself” despite being told to back away.
She also claims that the Secret Service “thought he was an attacker”.
In the video footage of the moment, Padilla can be heard clearly identifying himself, saying: “I’m Senator Alex Padilla” and trying to ask Noem a question.
McLaughlin said that Noem and Padilla held a 15-minute meeting after.
Here’s the full X post:
Senator Padilla chose disrespectful political theatre and interrupted a live press conference without identifying himself or having his Senate security pin on as he lunged toward Secretary Noem. Mr Padilla was told repeatedly to back away and did not comply with officers’ repeated commands. @SecretService thought he was an attacker and officers acted appropriately. Secretary Noem met with Senator Padilla after and held a 15 minute meeting.
Updated
'Manhandling' of senator 'a sickening disgrace', says Jeffries
The House minority leader Hakeem Jeffries called the “brazen and aggressive manhandling” of senator Alex Padilla “a sickening disgrace”.
He called for those responsible to be held accountable.
Jeffries wrote on X:
Senator Alex Padilla is a good man and principled public servant. The brazen and aggressive manhandling of Senator Padilla by the Trump administration is a sickening disgrace. Anyone who assaulted the Senator should be held accountable. No one is above the law.
Updated
Chris Murphy, the Democratic senator from Connecticut, said the incident marks “a very, very serious moment”.
He wrote on X:
This is a United States Senator being violently removed from a public briefing. Many of are reaching out to Senator Padilla right now and there are facts we need to gather, but this is a very, very serious moment.
Updated
Removal of Padilla 'outrageous, dictatorial and shameful', says Newsom
California governor Gavin Newsom has called the treatment of Alex Padilla “outrageous, dictatorial and shameful”.
In a post on X he said:
Senator Alex Padilla is one of the most decent people I know. This is outrageous, dictatorial, and shameful. Trump and his shock troops are out of control. This must end now.
Updated
Footage of senator's forcible removal 'sickened my stomach,' says Schumer
Chuck Schumer has said the footage of senator Alex Padilla being forcibly removed “sickened my stomach”.
The Senate minority leader said on X:
Watching this video sickened my stomach, the manhandling of a United States Senator, Senator Padilla. We need immediate answers to what the hell went on.
Updated
Senator's forced removal from press briefing was 'abhorrent and outrageous', says LA mayor
Los Angeles mayor Karen Bass said Alex Padilla’s forced removal from this afternoon’s Department of Homeland Security press briefing was “absolutely abhorrent and outrageous”.
The mayor posted her reaction on X, alongside a video of part of the senator’s removal, saying:
What just happened to @SenAlexPadilla is absolutely abhorrent and outrageous. He is a sitting United States Senator. This administration’s violent attacks on our city must end.
Updated
Senator Alex Padilla not currently detained after being forced to the ground and handcuffed, his office says
The office of the senator Alex Padilla has put out this statement, saying he was forcibly removed after trying to ask secretary Noem a question, and that he is not currently detained:
Senator Padilla is currently in Los Angeles exercising his duty to perform Congressional oversight of the federal government’s operations in Los Angeles and across California.
He was in the federal building to receive a briefing with General Guillot and was listening to Secretary Noem’s press conference.
He tried to ask the Secretary a question, and was forcibly removed by federal agents, forced to the ground and handcuffed.
He is not currently detained, and we are working to get additional information.
Updated
Kristi Noem is repeating her claims that “some organized crime non-profit funder” is “sending a political message” through the protests.
Again, nobody in the Trump administration has provided evidence for these claims.
Updated
Noem also claims the White House has reached out to LA mayor Karen Bass and had conversations.
We reported yesterday afternoon that Bass said she wanted to speak to Donald Trump and said there was a call taking place to try to arrange that.
Noem claims she's left voicemails for Gavin Newsom and he hasn't returned her calls
Noem claims she has left voicemails for governor Gavin Newsom, “wanting to have a conversation”.
“Has he returned them? No,” she says.
Noem says she doesn’t know the senator Alex Padilla (who was just removed from the press conference): “He did not request a meeting with me or to speak with me, so when I leave here I’ll have a conversation with him and find out what his concerns were.”
She adds that his intervention was “inappropriate”.
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Noem skirts around a question about her request to the defense secretary to direct troops to arrest people and whether she still wants that.
She acknowledges a conversation took place “to make sure that there’s consequences for people who perpetuate violence”.
She says: “They’re being utilized to the fullest extent that the president wishes at this point in time.”
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Here’s a picture of the California senator Alex Padilla being removed from the press conference:
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California senator Alex Padilla forcibly removed from Noem press conference
Noem calls the leadership of Gavin Newsom and Karen Bass “burdensome”.
At this point, Democratic senator Alex Padilla is confronted by security and forcibly removed from the room. He appears to be trying to ask Noem a question. Politico has the clip.
VIDEO of California Sen. Alex Padilla being wrestled and detainedpic.twitter.com/OjfwZO9iMt
— Christopher Cadelago (@ccadelago) June 12, 2025
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Noem repeats Trump administration's claims that protests are being 'funded' and have turned violent
Noem says the IRS is present at the press conference to “help us track how these violent protestors are funded”.
She suggests “NGOs out there, unions, other individuals” could be funding the protests and turning them violent.
She is echoing Trump’s claims over the last few days painting protesters in LA as “paid insurrectionists”. His press secretary Karoline Leavitt yesterday doubled down on that suggestion, saying the protestors appear “well-funded” and said federal officials were looking into “who is funding” the protests.
Nobody in the Trump administration has provided evidence for these claims.
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Noem says consequences will be applied equally to those who break the law in LA:
We have a constitution. Our law enforcement officers have been assaulted. They’ve been pelted with rocks and bricks. Their cars have been set on fire. Molotov cocktails have been used. We have seen people throw bottles and hammers at them. We’ve also seen that they have been attacked and verbally spit on or punched or assaulted.
Those actions, she says, are “just not acceptable”:
If you assault a law enforcement officer, we are going to come after you and we are going to arrest you, prosecute you and put you away.
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Kristi Noem to give remarks on anti-Ice protests in Los Angeles
Homeland security secretary Kristi Noem is about to deliver remarks on the anti-Ice protests that have taken place in Los Angeles (and elsewhere in the US) over the last week.
Noem, who was spotted this morning accompanying federal immigration agents on an operation in Huntington Park, is expected to defend DHS’s deportation raids and the Trump administration’s decision to deploy national guard troops and marines to the area.
I’ll bring you any key lines here.
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Trump’s birthday parade may be cancelled over thunderstorms - Times of London
Donald Trump’s plans to hold a military parade in Washington DC coinciding with his 79th birthday this Saturday have been put in doubt by a thunderstorm warning, according to the Times of London.
Steve Warren, chief spokesman of the US army, which is celebrating its 250th anniversary, told the Times:
Rain won’t stop us, the tanks don’t melt, but if there’s lightning then that puts the crowd at risk … they will disperse the crowd and even cancel or postpone the parade. It will depend on the president, too, when he’s available.
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Homeland security secretary Kristi Noem has been spotted accompanying federal immigration agents on an operation in Huntington Park, a predominantly Latino city south of Los Angeles, with the New York Times capturing photos of her wearing a DHS baseball cap and a flak jacket that says POLICE/ICE.
Noem’s on-the-ground presence has been a signature of her tenure so far. She has joined raids in New York, Virginia and Arizona, toured the border on horseback and ATV, and popped up in Guantanamo Bay to observe the rising tent city to house migrants deported from the US.
Her made-for-TV tactics have drawn derision from immigration advocates and even some allies who accuse the former South Dakota governor of “cosplaying” law enforcement.
But Noem seems to have the support of the only viewer who matters: Donald Trump. Her audience of one has repeatedly applauded Noem’s efforts at the department, and in return she has offered unflinching if occasionally theatrical loyalty.
Hegseth refuses to commit to obeying courts on marines in LA
Defense secretary Pete Hegseth has refused to say whether he would follow the courts if they ruled against Donald Trump’s sending active-duty marines to Los Angeles despite California governor Gavin Newsom’s objections.
The Pentagon chief repeatedly deflected when asked at a House armed services committee hearing whether he would respect a federal district or supreme court decision on the issue.
Democratic representative Ro Khanna, of California, asked: “Whatever the federal district court decides, will you abide by it?” Hegseth answered that it was a “pending situation”.
Asked again, he said:
What I will tell you is, my job right now is to ensure the troops that we have in Los Angeles are capable of supporting law enforcement.
Pressed again, the defense secretary said:
We’ve always looked to the decisions of the court.
Urged again to assure people that he would respect court decisions on the issue, Hegseth said:
What I can say is we should not have local judges determining foreign policy or national security policy for the country.
“So you’re not willing to say you would respect those decisions?” Hegseth was asked. He replied:
What I’m saying is, local district judges shouldn’t make foreign policy for the United States.
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Kilmar Ábrego García seeks sanctions against Trump administration in wrongful deportation case
Kilmar Ábrego García, the man wrongly deported from Maryland to El Salvador before being returned to the US on migrant smuggling charges, is seeking sanctions against the Trump administration for allegedly stonewalling an inquiry into efforts to secure his return.
The case has become a flashpoint over Donald Trump’s hardline immigration policies, with critics holding it up as an example of the administration’s willingness to deny due process and evade court orders in its push to deport migrants.
Lawyers for Ábrego García argued in a court filing late on Wednesday that a judge should punish the federal government for failing to provide meaningful information about steps US agencies took to comply with court orders to facilitate Ábrego García’s return to the US.
“The Government’s defiance has not been subtle. It has been vocal and sustained and flagrant,” his lawyers wrote in the filing.
The filing asked US district judge Paula Xinis to conclude that the Trump administration did not take all available steps to bring about his return. It also seeks an unspecified sum in fines and to compel US officials to turn over documents they have previously withheld, citing legal privileges.
Spokespeople from the US justice department and Department of Homeland Security did not immediately respond to Reuters requests for comment on the filing.
The Trump administration has argued it satisfied court orders by bringing Ábrego García to Tennessee last week to face a federal criminal indictment accusing him of transporting migrants living in the US illegally to destinations around the country.
Ábrego García’s lawyers have denounced the charges as “fantastical” and argued that the indictment should not end a separate lawsuit over his wrongful deportation in March.
Ábrego García is set to appear for a detention hearing in the criminal case on Friday.
Trump says he may soon hike auto tariffs in bid to get more US production
Donald Trump has warned he may soon hike auto tariffs, arguing that could prod automakers to speed up US investments.
“I might go up with that tariff in the not too distant future,” Trump said at a White House event. “The higher you go, the more likely it is they build a plant here.”
Automakers have been pressing the White House to reduce the 25% tariffs Trump imposed on autos and the Detroit Three have criticized a deal that would cut tariffs on British car imports but not on Canada or Mexico production.
'He does like me' : Trump says of Musk as he praises Tesla
Donald Trump, who at the peak of his recent feud with Elon Musk had threatened to sell his red Tesla, has now praised the car brand, Reuters reprots.
“I like Tesla,” he said at a White House event targeting California’s EV rules, in a further sign of detente between the two billionaires, a day after Musk backed off his criticism of the president.
Boasting of ending green energy policies, Trump said that he had discussed his plans with Musk, his now-departed former adviser and co-founder of Tesla.
“That’s why Elon doesn’t like me very much,” Trump quipped in reference to the pair’s recent public fallout. “But he actually does, he does.”
The Tesla chief posted on X at 3am on Wednesday that he “regrets” some of the things he posted as he and Trump traded insults on social media last week, saying “they went too far”.
The tech billionaire didn’t explain why he’d had the sudden change of heart, nor did he elaborate on which posts exactly he regretted (he has many to choose from), but it did follow his decision to delete a number of his most shocking posts, including the Jeffrey Epstein one.
The New York Times also reported yesterday that Musk had called Trump on Monday night, before his regret post.
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US immigration agency flies Predator drones over LA protests
US Customs and Border Protection (CPB) is flying surveillance drones over the Los Angeles protests, the agency confirmed in a statement Thursday. The drones in question are MQ-9 Predators, some models of which are equipped with technology that would enable high-altitude surveillance. In a statement to 404 Media, which first reported the presence of the drones, CBP said the drones were deployed to support “our federal law enforcement partners in the Greater Los Angeles area, including Immigration and Customs Enforcement, with aerial support of their operations”. Immigration and Customs Enforcement conducts raids and arrests, activity that has ramped up under Donald Trump’s administration and against which protesters in Los Angeles have been demonstrating.
CBP also said in a statement that its air and marine operations were “not engaged in the surveillance of first amendment activities” but that they are “providing officer safety surveillance when requested by officers”.
The Department of Homeland Security on Monday posted a video on X that the agency said was DHS drone footage and bore a CBP air and marine operations watermark. It included zoomed in clips of protestors on the streets.
CBP’s confirmation of its drone usage comes after the LA Times also reported that an LAPD helicopter flying over protestors announced to them: “I have all of you on camera. I’m going to come to your house.” The Guardian US reached out to the LAPD and has not heard back.
This is not the first time DHS has flown drones over protests. In 2020, DHS dispatched drones over at least 15 cities across the US where people gathered to protest the murder of George Floyd and logged more than 270 hours of surveillance footage. The LAPD has also ramped up surveillance in response to first amendment activity. During the city’s George Floyd protests, LAPD sent requests to Amazon for Ring doorbell footage that specifically sought videos of the protests.
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Texas governor says more than 5,000 national guard troops deployed
Texas governor Greg Abbott said more than 5,000 Texas national guard soldiers and 2,000 Department of Public Safety (DPS) troopers have been deployed ahead of planned Ice protests across the state over the weekend.
In a statement shared by CBS Austin, Abbott said:
Today, I deployed over 2,000 Texas DPS troopers and over 5,000 Texas National Guard soldiers across the state to assist local law enforcement response to these protests and to maintain law and order.
Anyone engaging in acts of violence or damaging property will be arrested and held accountable to the full extent of the law.
Don’t mess with Texas – and don’t mess with Texas law enforcement.
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Donald Trump said he would not fire Federal Reserve chair Jerome Powell, who he called a “numbskull” during an event at the White House on Thursday.
Trump urged Powell to lower interest rates, and said he told him that “if you think there’s inflation, let’s find out.”
“Let’s say there was inflation in a year from now. Raise your rates. I don’t mind,” he said.
Hegseth questioned whether Pentagon has plans for potential Greenland, Panama invasions
Defense secretary Pete Hegseth is facing questions from the House armed services committee this morning, his third appearance at a congressional hearing this week to discuss the Pentagon’s budget request.
Hegseth faced questions from Adam Smith, the top Democrat on the committee, over whether the US military had plans to take Greenland and Panama by force.
“Is it the policy of the department of defense that we need to be prepared to take Greenland and Panama by force, if necessary?” Smith asked. “Is this a policy that you have within the department of defense in accordance with the president’s wishes?”
Hegseth did not answer the question directly, instead pivoting to talking about US concerns over China’s influence in Panama and Greenland.
Panama is very key terrain that we’ve focused on and we’ve been willing to focus on, as is Greenland.
Smith pushed on, asking whether the US is trying to take over the countries by force.
“Our job at the DOD is to have plans,” Hegseth said.
“Do you have a plan for that?” Smith asked. Hegseth replied:
Our job at the defense department is to have plans for any particular contingency.
“To be clear, you do have plans to take Panama and Greenland by force if necessary,” Smith said.
Hegseth replied:
I think the American people would want the Pentagon to have plans for any particular contingency.
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The White House’s deputy chief of staff for policy Stephen Miller will brief Senate Republicans behind closed doors this morning about the GOP tax policy bill, NBC News is reporting, citing a source.
The meeting was expected to take place at about 11am ET, according to the report.
The Senate is then scheduled to hold a confirmation vote for former Missouri congressman Billy Long to serve as IRS commissioner, as well as a vote to advance the crypto regulation “Genius” bill.
Sanctuary states testify on impact of Trump immigration policies
House oversight committee chair James Comer kicked off what is sure to be a contentious congressional hearing on sanctuary states by repeatedly describing Kilmar Ábrego García as a “foreign MS-13 gang member”, despite a federal judge finding no evidence linking him to the criminal organization.
Comer used his opening remarks to attack senator Chris Van Hollen’s trip to El Salvador, mockingly describing it as a “wellness check” that “ended with a photo op and margaritas on the rocks”. The Kentucky Republican was referring to Van Hollen’s April visit to secure the release of Ábrego García, a Salvadoran man who was mistakenly and unlawfully deported to a mega-prison in that country despite a court order barring his removal.
Ábrego García was eventually returned to the US on 6 June after spending months in detention, with the Trump administration now indicting him on counts for illegal smuggling and conspiracy.
The hearing will feature testimony from three high-profile Democratic governors - JB Pritzker of Illinois, Tim Walz of Minnesota and Kathy Hochul of New York - as Republicans seek to challenge sanctuary state policies.
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Trump says business leaders telling him mass deportations are taking good workers away
Donald Trump has said that he has heard from business leaders that his mass deportation agenda “is taking very good, long time workers away from them, with those jobs being almost impossible to replace”.
The president wrote in a post on his Truth Social platform that “changes are coming”, but it’s unclear if he means he’s going to heed what farmers and hospitality businesses are telling him, as in the same post he claims “criminals … are applying for those jobs”.
Our great Farmers and people in the Hotel and Leisure business have been stating that our very aggressive policy on immigration is taking very good, long time workers away from them, with those jobs being almost impossible to replace.
In many cases the Criminals allowed into our Country by the VERY Stupid Biden Open Borders Policy are applying for those jobs. This is not good. We must protect our Farmers, but get the CRIMINALS OUT OF THE USA. Changes are coming!
Trump didn’t say which business leaders and farmers have spoken to him and his administration about this.
Just yesterday, immigration officials carried out further “enforcement activity” in California’s agricultural heartland and the Los Angeles area. Across the state an estimated 255,700 farm workers are undocumented.
Immigrant advocacy groups reported multiple actions across California and said agents pursued workers through blueberry fields and staged operations at agricultural facilities.
“When our workforce’s lives are in fear, the fields will go unharvested, the impact is felt not only at the local level, but it will also be felt at the national level,” said Jeannette Sanchez-Palacios, the mayor of Ventura, a coastal city just north of Los Angeles.
Everything will be affected and every American who is here and relies on the labor of these individuals will be affected.
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Key takeaways from Gavin Newsom this morning on Trump's use of national guard in LA
‘Stone cold liar’
Gavin Newsom has called Donald Trump a “stone cold liar” as the federalization of national guard troops didn’t come up when he spoke with the president on the phone last Friday night. “He never brought it up. Period. Full stop. He lied about that,” Newsom said on Thursday morning in an interview with the New York Times podcast The Daily.
Trump has said he spoke to Newsom about sending troops before he did so. “He lied, he lied,” said Newsom. “My mother and dad’s grave, I don’t mess around when I say this. he lied. Stone cold liar. Don’t think for a second he told the truth ... he continues to lie.” Newsom said he would not go further into the details of “a private conversation with the president”.
‘Theater, madness, unconstitutional’
“It’s theatre, it’s madness, it’s unconstitutional,” the California governor said condemning the use of federal troops called into action in Los Angeles by Trump over the Democratic governor’s explicit objections.
He said that the more than 1,600 police he had ordered to control the streets of Los Angeles were more than capable of handling the limited-area protests.
Trump has ‘weaponized’ the troops
Newsom said the president has “weaponized” the deployment of troops amid a handful of incidents of vandalism and some looting that happened on the fringes of larger peaceful protests in certain parts of the LA area over the weekend, which inevitably made a big splash in mainstream media images and on social media. “It’s concentrated in just a small complex, in a very small footprint in a very large downtown in Los Angeles,” he said.
Newsom said that federalized troops “were weaponized by the Trump administration, and they’ve exacerbated the problem. Those people should be ashamed of themselves, and they will be held to account.”
He said there were “about 315 [federalised national guard] who were mission-tasked, the rest were sitting around, about 1,700, for days, you saw them sitting quite literally on the ground, with out fuel, without food, without training.” All the while it is law enforcement making arrests, not the national guard, Newsom said.
‘Immoral’
Newsom said that the national guard men and women were being “used as pawns” by Trump and it was local police who were actually protecting the national guard, not the other way around. “The first night they were deployed our police officers had to protect the national guard. They became a destination for the protests and it was local police that had to protect them. This is how ridiculous this whole thing is,” he said.
“I’ve said it’s immoral, it puts people’s lives at risk, they are using these men and women as pawns,” Newsom added.
Newsom told the outlet that he had had to take state-controlled troops away from the US-Mexico border, where they fight drug smuggling, and state forests, where they are clearing brush to prevent wildfire, and add them to enforcement in LA - not to deal with protests per se but to protect the federalised troops from the protesters.
Donald Trump has said that “of course” senator Rand Paul of Kentucky is invited to tonight’s White House picnic, one day after the senator said he and his family had been uninvited.
Paul has frequently criticized Trump’s “big, beautiful bill”, which is projected to massively increase the federal deficit, and has said he plans to vote no on the legislation. This week he also voiced opposition to the military parade taking place on Saturday, saying: “I wouldn’t have done it.”
“Of course Senator Rand Paul and his beautiful wife and family are invited to the BIG White House Party tonight. He’s the toughest vote in the history of the U.S. Senate, but why wouldn’t he be?” Trump said in a post on Truth Social.
“Besides, it gives me more time to get his Vote on the Great, Big, Beautiful Bill, one of the greatest and most important pieces of legislation ever put before our Senators & Congressmen/women,” Trump added. “I look forward to seeing Rand. The Party will be Great!”
Per NBC News, Paul told reporters yesterday that he called the White House to secure tickets to the annual picnic but was told he was not invited. He said he had family members flying to DC to attend the event, including his son, daughter-in-law and Maga-hat-owning 6-month-old grandson.
I just find this incredibly petty. I have been, I think, nothing but polite to the president. I have been an intellectual opponent, a public policy opponent, and he’s chosen now to uninvite me from the picnic and to say my grandson can’t come to the picnic.
Paul said his un-invitation was “petty vindictiveness” for his opposition to key aspects of Trump’s agenda.
They’re afraid of what I’m saying, so they think they’re going to punish me, I can’t go to the picnic, as if somehow that’s going to make me more conciliatory.
So it’s silly, in a way, but it’s also just really sad that this is what it’s come to. But petty vindictiveness like this, it makes you — it makes you wonder about the quality of people you’re dealing with.
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Newsom calls Trump a 'stone cold liar' and says president didn't speak to him about sending troops to LA
California governor Gavin Newsom has called Donald Trump a liar in an interview, talking about phone calls he had with the US president over the very rare deployment of federal troops to Los Angeles over the governor’s wishes.
Newsom said the president has “weaponized” the deployment of troops amid a handful of incidents of vandalism and some looting that happened on the fringes of larger peaceful protests in certain parts of the LA area over the weekend, which inevitably made a big splash in mainstream media images and on social media.
Newsom was asked by The Daily podcast if the protests got out of control. “Well, that looting was unacceptable. There have been hundreds and hundreds of arrests [by local law enforcement].” He said and there would be prosecutions at the “full extent of the law”.
“It’s concentrated in just a small complex, in a very small footprint in a very large downtown in Los Angeles,” he said. Newsom said that federalized troops “were weaponized by the Trump administration, and they’ve exacerbated the problem. Those people should be ashamed of themselves, and they will be held to account.”
But he said the federalization of the national guard did not come up when he spoke with Trump on the phone last Friday night.
He never brought it up. Period. Full stop. He lied about that.
Trump has said he spoke to Newsom about sending troops.
“He lied, he lied. My mother and dad’s grave, I don’t mess around when I say this. he lied. Stone cold liar. Don’t think for a second he told the truth ... he continues to lie.” Newsom said he would not go further into the details of “a private conversation with the president”.
Donald Trump was met with boos, cheers and a heavy dose of irony as he took in Les Mis at the Kennedy Center against the backdrop of continuing protests in LA last night, my colleague David Smith writes.
It was Trump’s first production at the Kennedy Center, the performing arts complex where he pulled a Viktor Orbán and seized control in February. He pushed out the centre’s former chair, fired its longtime president and pledged to overhaul an institution that he criticized as too woke.
But ticket sales have fallen since and some performers have cancelled shows. On Wednesday, as he took his seat, 78-year-old Trump was greeted with a high-octane mix of cheers and boos that stopped after a round of “USA” chants.
Several drag queens in full regalia sat in the audience, presumably in response to Trump’s criticism of the venue for hosting drag shows. One person shouted “Viva Los Angeles!” as Trump stepped out of the presidential box at the intermission.
The president’s appearance was meant to boost fundraising for the Kennedy Center and he said donors raised more than $10m. But Maga’s efforts to break into the thespian world went about as well as Napoleon’s invasion of Russia.
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Here are some pictures from the protests in downtown LA yesterday.
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‘This isn’t an isolated incident’: Trump’s show of military force in LA was years in the making
Rachel Leingang and Lauren Gambino in Los Angeles
Donald Trump is targeting Los Angeles, the biggest city in deep-blue California – a sprawling metropolis shaped by immigrant communities that the president described on Tuesday as a “trash heap” – with a show of force many years in the making.
After his first term, Trump expressed regret for not taking a more heavy-handed approach to the 2020 protests over George Floyd’s murder by police. So when demonstrations against his immigration crackdown erupted last week in Los Angeles, he turned to the playbook he wished he had used then – federalizing the national guard and deploying hundreds of US marines to confront what Democratic officials insist was a manageable situation, escalated by a president who the state’s governor, Gavin Newsom, has warned is increasingly behaving like a “dictator”.
It’s the made-for-TV clash Trump has been waiting for: visually gripping scenes of unrest in a Democratic-run city furious over his administration’s mass deportation agenda.
“Chaos is exactly what Trump wanted, and now California is left to clean up the mess,” Newsom said on X.
The showdown in Los Angeles brings together longtime overlapping goals of the Trump regime: bringing state and local officials to heel; trying to tap as many resources as possible for his deportation program; and going after protesters who speak or act against him, all while stretching the boundaries of legality.
Sending troops into an American city to stifle largely peaceful protests is a “test case” that, depending on how it plays out in Los Angeles, could be a strategy the administration replicates in other cities, said Sarah Mehta, the deputy director of government affairs at the ACLU.
This isn’t an isolated incident.
I think what we’re seeing in Los Angeles is this culmination of several weeks of incredibly aggressive immigration policing, the federal government asking the military to get further involved in immigration enforcement, including the transportation of unaccompanied children and attention and riot control, and then on top of that, again, these really targeted attacks against cities and states that are not going along with Trump’s aggressive deportation regime.
Karen Bass, the mayor of Los Angeles, said her city was being used as a proving ground for how the federal government might exert its authority over other local governments that resist the president’s agenda. “I feel like we are part of an experiment that we did not ask to be a part of,” she said, speaking at a press conference in downtown LA on Monday.
While Trump sows chaos in the streets, the mayor said, the city’s immigrant communities were gripped by a “level of fear and terror” over the administration’s escalating enforcement efforts, with some undocumented workers staying home and mixed-status families afraid to attend school graduation ceremonies.
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Gavin Newsom, California’s governor, has further criticized Donald Trump’s decision to order troops into LA, in an interview today with the New York Times podcast.
The president a number of days ago commanded 2,000 National Guard. I want to put that in perspective. In California I command 18,000. Two days later there were about 315 [federalised national guard] who were mission-tasked, the rest were sitting around, about 1,700, for days, you saw them sitting quite literally on the ground, with out fuel, without food, without training. Last night we had 1,600 local law enforcement ... that are trained for these activities, they are the ones making arrests [of protesters], not the national guard.
Newsom said of the national guard: “I revere these guys.” He said he had several hundred “down at the border doing counter-drug operations” and others known as rattlesnake crews.
These are the ones doing forest management, they are raking the forest, preparing for wildfire season, these are men and women ... working for local police enforcement agencies in many instances, they are police officers in their day job....[many] have now been redeployed [to LA].
Newsom then said:
The first night they were deployed our police officers had to protect the national guard. They became a destination for the protests and it was local police that had to protect them. This is how ridiculous this whole thing is ... I’ve said it’s immoral, it puts people’s lives at risk, they are using these men and women as pawns.
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Gavin Newsom has made fresh comments condemning the use of federal troops called into action in Los Angeles by Donald Trump over the Democratic governor’s explicit objections in a very rare move.
“It’s theatre, it’s madness, it’s unconstitutional,” the California governor said on Thursday morning in an interview with the New York Times podcast The Daily.
The governor said that the more than 1,600 police he had ordered to control the streets of Los Angeles were more than capable of handling the limited-area protests.
He has accused the US president of not just escalating but provoking the situation in LA, where protesters first came out on to the streets in some areas to demonstrate against aggressive immigration raids but then further protested against the federal government taking charge of national guard troops and also ordering US Marines to go to LA.
Newsom told the outlet that he had had to take state-controlled troops away from the US-Mexico border, where they fight drug smuggling, and state forests, where they are clearing brush to prevent wildfire, and add them to enforcement in LA - not to deal with protests per se but to protect the federalised troops from the protesters.
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California will face off with Washington in court on Thursday over Donald Trump’s deployment of US troops in Los Angeles after demonstrators again took to the streets in major cities to protest Trump’s immigration crackdown.
Some 700 US Marines will be on the streets of Los Angeles by Thursday or Friday, the military said, to support up to 4,000 national guard troops in protecting federal property and federal agents, including on immigration raids, Reuters reported.
Trump’s decision to dispatch troops to Los Angeles over the objections of California governor Gavin Newsom has sparked a national debate about the use of the military on US soil and further polarized the country.
Street protests have broken out in multiple cities besides Los Angeles including New York, Chicago, Washington and San Antonio, Texas.
A federal judge in San Francisco will hear arguments Thursday as part of California’s lawsuit against Trump. The state is requesting a temporary restraining order to block the troops’ participation in law enforcement activities.
California ultimately wants a court ruling that returns its national guard to the state’s control and declares that Trump’s action was illegal.
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A woman defiantly dances near police officers as protesters continue to march and chant in an approximately one-square mile area of downtown Los Angeles in response to a series of immigration raids.
Nerves are frayed in Los Angeles, as the second largest city in the US is flooded with more than 2,000 federal troops tasked with protecting immigration enforcement officials after thousands of people hit the streets to protest deportation raids.
That this weekend’s immigration enforcement actions sparked a fierce response in LA will not come as a surprise to many Californians. LA’s immigrant roots, and its deep ties to neighboring Mexico, are central to the region’s identity.
Long before it was part of the US, LA was Indigenous Tongva and Chumash land. It later came under Spanish and then Mexican rule. The name “California” itself comes from a Spanish novel, Las sergas de Esplandián (The Adventures of Esplandián), and appeared on maps as early as 1541. But it wasn’t until 2 August 1769, that Spaniard Juan Crespi, a Franciscan priest accompanying the first European land expedition through California, described in his journal a “beautiful river from the northwest”. He named the river, which would later become the LA River, Nuestra Señora de los Angeles de la Porciúncula (Our Lady of the Angels of the Porciuncula). Twelve years later, in 1781, the settlement would emerge with the shortened and anglicized name of Los Angeles.
After Mexico’s independence from Spain in 1821, Los Angeles – indeed the whole region– remained Mexican territory until it was ceded to the US in 1848 after the Mexican-American War. California became the 31st state in 1850, entering the Union as a free state.
Today, one in three people of LA county’s more than 10 million residents are immigrants, and 1.6 million children in the region have at least one immigrant parent. They come from countries around the world. It’s common for Angelenos to have been born in Mexico, El Salvador, Guatemala, the Philippines, China and Hong Kong – but also Russia, France, the UK and elsewhere.
‘Morale is not great’: troops and marines deeply troubled by LA deployment
California national guard troops and marines deployed to Los Angeles to help restore order after days of protest against the Trump administration have told friends and family members they are deeply unhappy about the assignment and worry their only meaningful role will be as pawns in a political battle they do not want to join.
Three different advocacy organisations representing military families said they had heard from dozens of affected service members who expressed discomfort about being drawn into a domestic policing operation outside their normal field of operations. The groups said they have heard no countervailing opinions.
“The sentiment across the board right now is that deploying military force against our own communities isn’t the kind of national security we signed up for,” said Sarah Streyder of the Secure Families Initiative, which represents the interests of military spouses, children and veterans.
“Families are scared not just for their loved ones’ safety, although that’s a big concern, but also for what their service is being used to justify.”
Chris Purdy of the Chamberlain Network, whose stated mission is to “mobilize and empower veterans to protect democracy”, said he had heard similar things from half a dozen national guard members. “Morale is not great, is the quote I keep hearing,” he said.
The marines and the California national guard did not respond to invitations to comment.
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The US military said on Wednesday that a battalion of 700 marines had concluded training specific to the LA mission, including de-escalation and crowd control.
They would join the national guard under the authority of a federal law known as Title 10 within 48 hours, not to conduct civilian policing but to protect federal officers and property, the military said.
“Title 10 forces may temporarily detain an individual in specific circumstances such as to stop an assault, to prevent harm to others, or to prevent interference with federal personnel performing their duties,” the Northern Command said.
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Three prominent Democratic US governors face a grilling on Thursday from a Republican-led US House of Representatives panel over immigration policy, as president Donald Trump steps up a crackdown on people living in the country illegally, Reuters reported.
The governors of New York, Illinois and Minnesota are due to testify to the House Oversight Committee after days of protests in downtown Los Angeles over the Trump administration’s aggressive ramping up of arrests of migrants.
Tensions escalated as Trump ordered the national guard and marines into California to provide additional security.
Trump’s immigration crackdown has become a major political flashpoint between the White House and national Democrats. California’s Democratic Governor Gavin Newsom, seen as a contender for the party’s presidential nomination in 2028, in a Tuesday night video speech accused Trump of choosing “theatrics over public safety.”
Minnesota’s Tim Walz, who ran unsuccessfully for vice-president last year; Illinois’ JB Pritzker, also seen a 2028 hopeful, and New York’s Kathy Hochul, walked a careful line in their prepared testimony for Thursday’s hearing, voicing support for immigration enforcement, if not Trump’s tactics.
“If they are undocumented, we want them out of Illinois and out of our country,” Pritzker said.
At the same time, Pritzker lashed out against “any violations of the law or abuses of power” and said, “Law-abiding, hard-working, tax-paying people who have been in this country for years should have a path to citizenship.”
Reuters/Ipsos polls show Trump getting more support for his handling of immigration than any other policy area.
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As federal agents rushed to arrest immigrants across Los Angeles, they confined detainees – including families with small children – in a stuffy office basement for days without sufficient food and water, according to immigration lawyers.
One family with three children were held inside a Los Angeles-area administrative building for 48 hours after being arrested on Thursday immediately after an immigration court hearing, according to lawyers from the Immigrant Defenders Law Center (ImmDef), which is providing non-profit legal services in the region.
The children, the youngest of whom is three years old, were provided a bag of chips, a box of animal crackers and a mini carton of milk as their sole rations for a day. Agents told the family they did not have any water to provide during the family’s first day in detention; on the second day, all five were given a single bottle to share. The one fan in the room was pointed directly towards a guard, rather than towards the families in confinement, they told lawyers.
“Because it was primarily men held in these facilities, they didn’t have separate quarters for families or for women,” said Yliana Johansen-Méndez, chief program officer at ImmDef. Clients explained that “eventually they set up a makeshift tent in an outside area to house the women and children. But clearly, there were no beds, no showers.”
They have since been transferred to a “family detention” center in Dilley, Texas, a large-scale holding facility retrofitted to hold children with their parents that was reopened under the Trump administration. Lawyers, who had been largely blocked from communicating with immigrants arrested amid the ramped-up raids in LA, said family members were able to recount the ordeal only after they were moved out of state.
Hilda Solis, an LA county supervisor, said on Wednesday evening she was concerned about a “deeply disturbing incident” in the city’s Boyle Heights neighborhood involving two unmarked vehicles operated by Immigration and Customs Enforcement (Ice) agents crashing in to a civilian car with two children inside and deploying teargas to apprehend an individual. She said she had also learned of an incident of Ice attempting to detain a member of the press.
The nearly 5,000 US military personnel in the city now exceeds the number of US troops in both Iraq and Syria.
The increasing raids come as Ice ramps up its efforts to meet a reported quota of 3,000 detentions a day set by Stephen Miller, Donald Trump’s White House deputy chief of staff. The city has seen days of protest over Trump’s immigration crackdown and the subsequent military deployment.
US immigration officials raid California farms as Trump ramps up conflict
US immigration officials carried out further “enforcement activity” in California’s agricultural heartland and the Los Angeles area as the conflict between the state and Donald Trump’s administration intensified on Wednesday.
Immigrant advocacy groups reported multiple actions across the state, where an estimated 255,700 farm workers are undocumented, and said agents pursued workers through blueberry fields and staged operations at agricultural facilities.
The raids have been sharply criticized by advocacy groups and local officials, who said they were “outraged and heartbroken by Immigration and Customs Enforcement (Ice) activities targeting immigrant families”.
“When our workforce’s lives are in fear, the fields will go unharvested, the impact is felt not only at the local level, but it will also be felt at the national level,” said Jeannette Sanchez-Palacios, the mayor of Ventura, a coastal city just north of Los Angeles. “Everything will be affected and every American who is here and relies on the labor of these individuals will be affected.”
Immigration activities have continued in the Los Angeles area as well, where officials say people have been detained outside Home Depots and in front of churches. Karen Bass, the Los Angeles mayor, said the raids have created a deep sense of fear in the region and that the White House has provoked unrest. The night-time curfew she put in place this week will stay in place as long as needed, including while there are ongoing raids and a military presence in the city, Bass said at a press conference on Wednesday.
Here is a Guardian graphic showing where the curfew in Los Angeles has been imposed.
Marines to deploy on LA streets within two days with authority to detain civilians
US marines will join national guard troops on the streets of Los Angeles within two days, officials said on Wednesday, and would be authorized to detain anyone who interferes with immigration officers on raids or protesters who confront federal agents, reports Reuters.
President Donald Trump ordered the deployments over the objections of California governor Gavin Newsom, causing a national debate about the use of the military on US soil and animating protests that have spread from Los Angeles to other major cities, including New York, Atlanta and Chicago.
Los Angeles on Wednesday endured a sixth day of protests that have been largely peaceful but occasionally punctuated by violence, mostly contained to a few blocks of the city’s downtown area.
The protests broke out last Friday in response to a series of immigration raids. Trump in turn called in the national guard on Saturday, then summoned the marines on Monday.
“If I didn’t act quickly on that, Los Angeles would be burning to the ground right now,” said Trump at an event at the John F Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts.
According to Reuters, the US military said on Wednesday that a battalion of 700 marines had concluded training specific to the LA mission, including de-escalation and crowd control. They would join national guard under the authority of a federal law known as Title 10 within 48 hours, not to conduct civilian policing but to protect federal officers and property, the military said.
“Title 10 forces may temporarily detain an individual in specific circumstances such as to stop an assault, to prevent harm to others, or to prevent interference with federal personnel performing their duties,” the northern command said.
Department of Homeland Security spokesperson Tricia McLaughlin said in a statement:
“If any rioters attack Ice law enforcement officers, military personnel have the authority to temporarily detain them until law enforcement makes the arrest.”
US army Maj Gen Scott Sherman, who commands the taskforce of marines and guardsmen, told reporters the marines will not carry live ammunition in their rifles, but they will carry live rounds.
More on this story in a moment, but first here is a summary of the latest developments:
A curfew came into effect for the second consecutive night on Wednesday in downtown Los Angeles, where police used horses and munitions to disperse protesters. Police declared the gathering near city hall unlawful shortly before the curfew, and began firing and charging at protesters shortly afterward.
Donald Trump was booed and cheered while attending the opening night of Les Misérables at the Kennedy Center, his first appearance there since becoming president and appointing himself chair.
All 12 members of the prestigious Fulbright program’s board resigned in protest of what they describe as unprecedented political interference by the Trump administration, which has blocked scholarships for nearly 200 American academics.
David Hogg will not run again for a vice-chair position at the Democratic National Committee, after members voted to void and re-do his election. The move ends months of internal turmoil over Hogg’s outside activism, particularly his vow to primary “asleep-at-the-wheel” Democrats.
Los Angeles county district attorney Nathan Hochman said media and social media had grossly distorted the scale of protest violence. “There are 11 million people in this county; 4 million of which live in Los Angeles city. We estimate that there’s probably thousands of people who have engaged in legitimate protest, let’s say 4,000 people,” Hochman said.
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