'We are not playing around': Trump issues fresh protest threat from Oval Office
President Donald Trump posted a video of himself speaking from the Oval Office on Tuesday about protests in Los Angeles — reinforcing a threat he made just minutes earlier
"If there's an insurrection, I would certainly invoke it," he said referring the the Insurrection Act, an extremely rarely used law that authorizes the president to deploy military forces within the United States to suppress rebellion.
"If we didn't get involved, right now Los Angeles would be burning just like it was burning a number of months ago," he said.
"We are not playing around."
He also claimed, "Last night was terrible," and that the protests were "causing a lot of death." He then corrected himself, saying it was causing "a lot of potential death." There hadn't been any people killed in the protests as of Tuesday morning.
Trump has deployed National Guard recruits and Marines to the city, despite officials in California being against their presence.
Many on the ground have started to fact-check the president's claims about what's happening by posting videos of peaceful protests, folks handing out water, playing music and dancing.
CNN reporter Brian Stelter noted that the Defense Department's rapid response account on X claimed "Los Angeles is burning," when there were no reports of fires related to the protests at the time.
See the clip of the press conference below or at the link here.
- YouTube youtu.be