Trump says anyone who protests at Saturday’s military parade ‘will be met with very heavy force’
Donald Trump warned people against protesting at this weekend’s military parade in Washington to celebrate the US Army’s 250th anniversary.
“For those people that want to protest, they’re going to be met with very big force,” Trump told reporters in the Oval Office. “I haven’t even heard about a protest, but you know, this is people that hate our country, but they will be met with very heavy force.”
Law enforcement agencies are preparing for hundreds of thousands of people to attend Saturday’s parade, Secret Service special agent in charge Matt McCool (his real name) said yesterday, according to Reuters.
McCool said thousands of agents, officers and specialists will be deployed from law enforcement agencies from across the country.
The FBI and the Metropolitan police department have said there are no credible threats to the event.
Key events
California asks for emergency order blocking Trump administration from using military to enforce laws in the state
Lauren Gambino
And here’s my colleague Lauren Gambino’s take.
California governor Gavin Newsom and attorney general Rob Bonta on Tuesday asked a court to grant an emergency restraining order to stop defense secretary Pete Hegseth from using military forces to accompany federal immigration enforcement officers on raids throughout Los Angeles.
“The President is looking for any pretense to place military forces on American streets to intimidate and quiet those who disagree with him,” Bonta said.
It’s not just immoral — It’s illegal and dangerous.
The suit asks for a ruling immediately by 1pm PST.
“The federal government is now turning the military against American citizens. Sending trained warfighters onto the streets is unprecedented and threatens the very core of our democracy,” Newsom said.
Donald Trump is behaving like a tyrant, not a President. We ask the court to immediately block these unlawful actions.
The request comes a day after Newsom and Bonta filed a lawsuit challenging as “unlawful” Trump’s deployment of 4,000 national guard troops to Los Angeles, which they said “trampled” state sovereignty.
Last night, hundreds of troops were transferred to Los Angeles, over the objections of Democratic officials and despite concerns from local law enforcement.
CNN has more detail on this, reporting that attorneys for California have asked a federal judge for an emergency order that would temporarily stop the Trump administration from using members of the state’s National Guard to enforce laws in the state, including by assisting federal officials with immigration enforcement.
In comments reported by CNN, attorneys for the state told the court the requested order “will prevent the use of federalized National Guard and active duty Marines for law enforcement purposes on the streets of a civilian city”.
But they noted that they were not seeking to prevent the federalized National Guard members from “protecting the safety of federal buildings or other real property owned or leased by the federal government, or federal personnel on such property”.
Donald Trump and secretary of defense Pete Hegseth – who California sued yesterday – “intend to use unlawfully federalized National Guard troops and Marines to accompany federal immigration enforcement officers on raids throughout Los Angeles,” California attorney general Rob Bonta wrote in court papers. The filing reads:
Federal antagonization, through the presence of soldiers in the streets, has already caused real and irreparable damage to the City of Los Angeles, the people who live there, and the State of California. They must be stopped, immediately.
Earlier today, the case was assigned to senior US district judge Charles R Breyer of the federal trial-level court in San Francisco. Breyer, a Clinton appointee, has not yet responded to the emergency request.
California has asked a federal court for a temporary restraining order blocking the Trump administration’s deployment of both state National Guard forces and US Marines to Los Angeles amid mass protests over sweeping federal immigration enforcement efforts, the LA Times (paywall) reports.
According to the Times report, the request was filed in the same federal lawsuit the state and state governor Gavin Newsom filed yesterday, in which they alleged Donald Trump had exceeded his authority and violated the US Constitution by sending military forces into the city without the request or approval of the state governor or local officials.
Local law enforcement agencies ‘saved the day’ not the national guard, LA mayor says
Karen Bass pushed back against Donald Trump’s repeated claims that his order to deploy the National Guard is what helped quell the protests in Los Angeles.
We know how to take care of these issues ourselves. When you said things have gotten under control because of the National Guard, I gave you an example where the National Guard wasn’t even here and he was tweeting that out.
She was referring to the fact that Trump was online taking credit for the national guard helping calm down protests, thanking them on Saturday night before the national guard actually arrived on Sunday morning – as Gavin Newsom pointed out at the time.
She went on to say that the national guard was just protecting the federal buildings in the city.
They are stationary at the federal building protecting the building they are not out doing crowd control or anything like that.
So I don’t know how he could say that the National Guard is who saved the day. Who saved the day are our local law enforcement agencies.
Los Angeles mayor Karen Bass said she is “going to put out a call” to Donald Trump today. She told a news conference:
I want to tell him to stop the raids. I want to tell him that this is a city of immigrants. I want to tell him that if you want to devastate the economy of the city of Los Angeles, then attack the immigrant population.
Asked if she has been trying to reach the president, Bass said she has not reached out directly to Trump yet.
My conversations with people either in the administration or close to the administration have been continuing.
LA mayor says a curfew is an option being discussed
Karen Bass has said she will be meeting later today with the chief of LAPD to discuss the possibility of a curfew in response to unrest in downtown LA.
The LA mayor said her focus was on prevention of any further unrest, and she had already had a brief discussion with the chief this morning about the idea of a curfew.
Sources have told CNN that it is still unclear what the marines’ specific task will be once in Los Angeles. As we’ve been reporting, like the National Guard troops they are prohibited from conducting law enforcement activity such as making arrests – unless Trump invokes the Insurrection Act, which he didn’t rule out today.
LA mayor Karen Bass earlier told a news conference she also has “no idea” what the hundreds of marines are going to do when they arrive.
People have asked me, ‘What are the Marines going to do when they get here?’ That’s a good question. I have no idea.
She said the national guard troops that are already in the city “have one assignment”, which is to protect specific federal buildings – which Bass also reiterated was “not needed”, and blasted the Trump administration for deploying the military personnel despite governor Gavin Newsom’s opposition.
Those involved in violence and vandalism will be prosecuted, says LA mayor
Los Angeles mayor Karen Bass has warned that those vandalizing federal property and looting stores in downtown Los Angeles amid the anti-Ice protests will be “held accountable”.
“Let me be clear: ANYONE who vandalized Downtown or looted stores does not care about our immigrant communities,” Bass said this morning on X. “You will be held accountable.”
In further comments at a press conference earlier, Bass reissued her warning, saying people committing violence and vandalism weren’t doing so “in support of immigrants”.
I do not believe that individuals that commit vandalism and violence in our city really are in support of immigrants. They have another agenda. If you support immigrants and the rights of immigrants to be in our city, you would not be tearing the city apart or vandalizing it.
She stressed that the unrest is not citywide and has only been taking place on “a few blocks within the downtown area”, but added that the graffiti extends beyond those few blocks.
Unfortunately, the visuals make it seem as though our entire city is in flames, and it is not the case at all.
She said those engaged in violence or are vandalizing areas will arrested.
No individual that is involved in vandalism shouldn’t think because they went home that night, that they’re off Scot-free. Because investigations will take place and I am assured by the police department that there will be follow up and arrests.
Congressional Black Caucus chair Yvette Clarke has said that Donald Trump’s deployment of National Guard troops to respond to protests in Los Angeles rises to the level of an impeachable offense, NBC News reports.
“This president has crossed the line,” Clarke, a Democratic representative of New York, said at a press conference. She said she doesn’t believe an “insurrection” is taking place in Los Angeles, and accused Trump of wanting violence, not stopping it. His decision to deploy Marines to the city – which is estimated to cost $134m – was, she said, a “waste of taxpayer dollars”.
Asked if she believed Trump’s actions rise to the level of impeachable offenses, Clarke said:
I do. I believe it is. I definitely believe it is, but we’ll cross that bridge when we get to it.
Anna Betts
Public schools in Los Angeles have announced a new security plan to keep immigration officers away from any potentially undocumented students and their families who are attending this week’s school graduations.
“Every single graduation site is a protected site,” said Alberto Carvalho, the superintendent of the Los Angeles Unified School District (LAUSD), the country’s second largest school district, at a Monday press conference, having previously said he was “dismayed by recent immigration enforcement activity occurring near our schools”.
Carvalho announced Monday that he had directed the school district’s police force to “establish perimeters of safety around graduation sites to interfere and intervene with any agency who may want to take action during these joyous times that we call graduation”.
More than 100 graduation ceremonies were scheduled in the district for yesterday and today.
Carvalho said school principals have been instructed to implement measures that would allow parents to immediately enter the graduation venues without delay, in order to reduce “the risk for them while on the street waiting to get in”, as well as to allow “parents to remain at the venue for as long as it takes should there be any immigration enforcement action around the area”.
Other school areas – including buses and bus stops – will also be monitored and protected, Carvalho said, and virtual viewing options had also been made available for parents who are not able to attend.
Every child has a right to a public education therefore every child and their parent has a right to celebrate the culmination of their educational success. We will protect every parent, every child, every workforce member.
Trump says anyone who protests at Saturday’s military parade ‘will be met with very heavy force’
Donald Trump warned people against protesting at this weekend’s military parade in Washington to celebrate the US Army’s 250th anniversary.
“For those people that want to protest, they’re going to be met with very big force,” Trump told reporters in the Oval Office. “I haven’t even heard about a protest, but you know, this is people that hate our country, but they will be met with very heavy force.”
Law enforcement agencies are preparing for hundreds of thousands of people to attend Saturday’s parade, Secret Service special agent in charge Matt McCool (his real name) said yesterday, according to Reuters.
McCool said thousands of agents, officers and specialists will be deployed from law enforcement agencies from across the country.
The FBI and the Metropolitan police department have said there are no credible threats to the event.
Newsom says Trump did not call him after president says they spoke ‘a day ago’
Contrary to what Trump just told reporters in the Oval Office, Gavin Newsom has said “there was no call. Not even a voicemail,” to him from the president.
Trump earlier said he last spoke to Newsom “a day ago”.
“I called him up to tell him he’s gotta do a better job,” Trump said, claiming without evidence that the governor was “causing a lot of potential death”.
“Americans should be alarmed that a President deploying Marines onto our streets doesn’t even know who he’s talking to,” Newsom wrote on X.
There was no call. Not even a voicemail.
Americans should be alarmed that a President deploying Marines onto our streets doesn’t even know who he’s talking to. https://t.co/y7TJUhUZGI
— Gavin Newsom (@GavinNewsom) June 10, 2025
Kristi Noem attacks Tim Walz’s handling of 2020 protests after police murder of George Floyd
Homeland security secretary Kristi Noem has told reporters in the Oval Office she watched Tim Walz “let his city burn” in 2020.
She is referring to the protests that took place in Minneapolis, Minnesota, where Walz was and still is governor, in the wake of the police murder of George Floyd. As the protests got more serious, Walz ordered a partial mobilization of the National Guard on 28 May 2020, before ordering a full mobilization on 30 May 2020.
There has been a nuanced debate around Walz’s response to the riots and whether he deployed the National Guard quickly enough, with Walz himself acknowledging a level of “abject failure” on his part. He drew sharp criticism from Minnesota Republicans at the time, and the issue was revived by the GOP when he announced as Kamala Harris’s running mate last year.
Back in the Oval Office today, Noem implied that Trump’s decision for federal intervention in LA was important to preventing scenes such as those in Minneapolis in 2020.
The president and I talked about this in the past and he was not going to let that happen to another city and another community where a bad governor made a bad decision.
Defense secretary Pete Hegseth also earlier tried to compare Walz and California governor Gavin Newsom’s respective handling of the protests, saying:
President Trump recognizes a situation like that, improperly handled by a governor, like it was by Governor Waltz … If it gets out of control, it’s a bad situation for the citizens of any location.
In fact, in June 2020, then-president Donald Trump had heaped praise on Walz for his state-controlled use of the National Guard, telling a conference call of governors:
What they did in Minneapolis was incredible. They went in and dominated, and it happened immediately.
Trump’s tune changed in July last year when he was the Republican presidential nominee, and he also falsely took credit for mobilizing the National Guard in Minnesota:
Every voter in Minnesota needs to know that when the violent mobs of anarchists and looters and Marxists came to burn down Minneapolis four years ago – remember me? – I couldn’t get your governor to act. He’s supposed to call in the National Guard or the Army. And he didn’t do it.
Trump claims that he stopped the violence in LA “by doing what I did”.
‘When there’s no danger, they’ll leave,’ says Trump on how long National Guard will remain in California
Asked how long the National Guard will be in California, Trump says “until there’s no danger”.
“It’s common sense … When there’s no danger, they’ll leave,” he adds, repeating his claim that “you would’ve had a horrible situation had I not sent them in”.
Trump repeats his claim that anti-Ice demonstrators in Los Angeles are “paid insurrectionists, or agitators, or troublemakers, you can call it whatever you want”.
My colleague Tess Owen wrote about this use of language here:
Trump says he last spoke to Newsom “a day ago”.
“I called him up to tell him he’s gotta do a better job,” Trump says, claiming without evidence that the governor was “causing a lot of potential death”.
