CLAIM: Violence only broke out in Los Angeles after President Donald Trump federalized the California National Guard on Saturday, June 7.
VERDICT: FALSE. Riots began Friday, June 6, prompting Trump to act.
California Gov. Gavin Newsom (D) delivered a speech Tuesday evening, as downtown Los Angeles prepared for curfew, in which he attacked President Trump, blaming him for ongoing riots and accusing him of being a threat to democracy.
Newsom’s audio failed for several minutes — a fact whose symbolic significance did not escape online critics — but when he re-launched his speech, he claimed that riots had only started on Saturday night.
In fact, riots (a term Newsom never used) started on Friday, before Trump had done anything.
Here is Newsom’s description of the timeline — which, in his telling, began on Saturday morning:
On Saturday morning, when federal agents jumped out of an unmarked van near a Home Depot parking lot, they began grabbing people.
…
In response, everyday Angelinos came out to exercise their Constitutional right to free speech and assembly.
To protest their government’s actions.
In turn, the State of California and the City and County of Los Angeles sent our police officers to help keep the peace, and with some exceptions, they were successful.
…
Donald Trump, without consulting with California’s law enforcement leaders, commandeered 2,000 of our state’s National Guard members to deploy on our streets.
…
That’s when the downward spiral began. He doubled down on his dangerous National Guard deployment by fanning the flames even harder.
And the President did it on purpose.
As the news spread throughout LA, anxiety for family and friends ramped up. Protests started again.
By night, several dozen lawbreakers became violent and destructive. They vandalized property. They tried to assault police officers.
Here is the actual timeline, or a more accurate version, as related by ABC News — not a conservative source:
June 6 [Friday]
ICE agents carry out a series of immigration sweeps across Southern California. Reports of federal agents running after people in a parking lot of a Home Depot in the Westlake neighborhood near downtown L.A. start circulating in the community.
Around 3 p.m. local time, a crowd begins gathering in the downtown Fashion District after ICE agents show up at an apparel manufacturing business. Aerial footage taken by ABC News’ Los Angeles station, KABC, shows what appears to be ICE agents loading two white passenger vehicles with people in handcuffs. As the vehicles leave the apparel business, protesters try unsuccessfully to stop them, including one individual who was seen lying down in the path of one of the cars.
Several hours later, a large group of protesters gathered outside the Edward R. Roybal Federal Building and U.S. Courthouse downtown, calling for an end to immigration raids in the city. Video footage shows protesters vandalizing the building, heckling police and throwing bottles and other objects at officers who used shields to protect themselves. Police in riot gear are seen confronting protesters with batons and what appeared to be tear gas launchers.
Breitbart News covered the riot on Friday, June 6, as did a variety of other news sources, left and right.
Newsom did mention the raid on the clothing factory, but implied that it took place Saturday, not Friday.
The governor also told another whopper: he claimed that Trump is planning to use the “United States military” on Saturday, June 14, “to put on a vulgar display to celebrate his birthday, just as other failed dictators have done in the past.”
In fact, the U.S. Army — not the “military” as a whole — is celebrating its 250th birthday: it was founded on June 14, 1775. It happens to share a birthday with the president.
Joel B. Pollak is Senior Editor-at-Large at Breitbart News and the host of Breitbart News Sunday on Sirius XM Patriot on Sunday evenings from 7 p.m. to 10 p.m. ET (4 p.m. to 7 p.m. PT). He is the author of Trump 2.0: The Most Dramatic ‘First 100 Days’ in Presidential History, available for Amazon Kindle. He is also the author of The Trumpian Virtues: The Lessons and Legacy of Donald Trump’s Presidency, now available on Audible. He is a winner of the 2018 Robert Novak Journalism Alumni Fellowship. Follow him on Twitter at @joelpollak.
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