Democratic Rep. Maxine Waters of California claimed Wednesday President Donald Trump “started” five days of riots in Los Angeles after previously claiming no violence was occurring in the city.
Democratic Mayor Karen Bass of Los Angeles declared a curfew for parts of the city Tuesday following five days of rioting when United States Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agents carried out an operation at a Los Angeles-area Home Depot. Waters previously denied violence was taking place in prior media appearances before attacking Trump during an appearance on “CNN News Central.”
“The president of the United States should do what he didn’t do when we were invaded in the Capitol, when they had the insurrection that he led, he should get on the phone and talk to the local police,” Waters told “CNN News Central” host Briana Keilar. “He should talk to the people that he’s had deployed there. And he has a responsibility in all of this. He started this. That should be no violence. He should not continue to support violence. They should not be egged and, you know, provoked in any way. And that’s what the president of the United States is doing to exert his power and to show that he’s in charge, and to show that he’s going to get the numbers that he promised to get to get people deported.”
WATCH:
Trump ordered 700 Marines to back up the deployment of federalized National Guard troops Monday as the riots continued into their fifth day. Video posted to social media Saturday showed an individual, who the FBI identified as Elpido Reyna in a Monday post on X, throwing rocks at the windshields of vehicles containing federal law enforcement personnel with the FBI offering a $50,000 reward for information leading to his arrest.
LOS ANGELES: Group is still pretty big since they started walking around 4pm out here. Almost an hour till curfew now @DailyCaller pic.twitter.com/ahM9oQqstt
— Hailey Grace Gomez (@haileyggomez) June 11, 2025
Despite that video, and reports of cars being vandalized and burned, Waters claimed Monday that “no violence” took place in Los Angeles.
“There had been no violence where anybody that was protesting hit anybody, shot anybody, threatened anybody,” Waters told “The Situation Room” co-hosts Wolf Blitzer and Pamela Brown. “Nothing had happened. And so he doesn’t know what to do, probably, because this is a sanctuary city, and the police don’t have the authority. All that he’s got to do is work with the governor.”
HAPPENING NOW: Streets are lined with LAPD. Appears that multiple groups are still active @DailyCaller pic.twitter.com/gg3I0c4Qxq
— Hailey Grace Gomez (@haileyggomez) June 10, 2025
Other Democrats have started to demand that ICE cease its operations in the Los Angeles area as a way to “restore order.”
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