ABC News asked Donald Trump this morning if he would deploy the Marines to Los Angeles, and he said, "We'll see what happens." Minutes later, the Pentagon sent 700 Marines to L.A., where demonstrators continue to protest Trump's immigration raids for the 4th day in a row.
Although the Marines will be "supporting" the National Guard, which arrived in L.A. over the weekend, "It is unclear what exactly they will be doing," according to Reuters.
Seven-hundred Marines in California have been ordered to assist in Los Angeles and they're expected to arrive over the next 24 hours, a U.S. official confirmed.
President Donald Trump deployed 2,000 National Guardsmen to "address the lawlessness," White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt said. But California Gov. Gavin Newsom asked the administration to rescind the deployment, saying Trump is trying "to manufacture a crisis" and that the president is "hoping for chaos so he can justify more crackdowns, more fear, more control."
And from Reuters:
The U.S. military is set to temporarily deploy about 700 Marines to Los Angeles while additional National Guard troops arrive in the city, a U.S. official told Reuters on Monday.
About 300 California National Guard troops were deployed to the streets of Los Angeles on Sunday to help quell a third day of protests over President Donald Trump's immigration enforcement, a step Democratic Governor Gavin Newsom called unlawful.
The number of National Guard troops is expected to rise to 2,000 by Wednesday and until then, the Marines are expected to provide support. It is unclear what exactly they will be doing.
Although Leavitt claims that federal troops are needed to control the "lawlessness" of the protestors in Los Angeles, in reality, the trouble didn't begin until Trump lawlessly deployed the National Guard — without Gov. Gavin Newsom's consent, and without invoking the Insurrection Act — in the first place.
The Marines are expected to arrive in the next 24 hours.
Previously: Los Angeles man lectures National Guard soldiers with painful truth: "Our president laughs at you" (video)
