Vance travels to Los Angeles to meet Marines, visit federal command center

Vice President Vance is set to travel to Los Angeles on Friday, a day after a federal appeals ruled President Trump could retain control of the California National Guard in response to the protests over his immigration raids.

Vance “will tour a multi-agency Federal Joint Operations Center, a Federal Mobile Command Center, meet with leadership and Marines, and deliver brief remarks,” according to his office.

The vice president’s office did not provide further details about the visit.

Around 200 Marines armed with rifles, riot control equipment and gas masks have been deployed to the streets of Los Angeles and more than 2,000 California National Guard troops are also on the ground.

Trump on Friday morning touted the “big win” in the courts and bashed California Gov. Gavin Newsom (D), whom he has been sparring with since he first called in the National Guard to Los Angeles.

“The Judges obviously realized that Gavin Newscum is incompetent and ill prepared, but this is much bigger than Gavin, because all over the United States, if our Cities, and our people, need protection, we are the ones to give it to them should State and Local Police be unable, for whatever reason, to get the job done,” Trump said. 

Newsom argued Trump’s decision to federalize soldiers without consulting him was illegal and asked the courts for an emergency order to block the move. U.S. District Judge Charles Breyer, a Clinton appointee, initially ruled in California’s favor, but the emergency injunction was overturned by the Ninth Circuit on June 13.

The three-judge panel then unanimously extended its pause in an unsigned, 38-page decision released Thursday night.

Newsom and Los Angeles Mayor Karen Bass (D), as well as other Democrats, have bashed the president for using the National Guard and Marines to quell the protests and argued last week that the federal enforcement stoked chaos on the ground.