President Donald Trump defends his decision to send the National Guard to Los Angeles, and lawmakers in Tallahassee appear hopeful about reaching a state budget agreement.
Los Angeles Mayor reacts to National Guard clashes with protesters
As protests over immigration enforcement enter day five out in Los Angeles, President Donald Trump defended his decision to deploy marines and members of the California National Guard over the objections of some local leaders.
“If we didn’t get involved right now, los angeles would be burning just like it was burning a number of months ago with all the houses that were lost. Los Angeles right now would be on fire, and we have it in great shape. We’re not playing around,” Trump said.
There have been dozens of arrests over the last few nights, amid tense confrontations between demonstrators, and local and federal law enforcement.
L.A. Mayor Karen Bass was asked today why she thinks the scenes from her city are different from protests elsewhere in the U.S.
“The only thing I can think of, and that’s why I keep going back to I think we’re an experiment. Because if you can do this to the nation’s second-largest city, maybe the administration is hoping that this will be a signal to everybody everywhere to fear them. That your federal government that historically has protected you can come in and take over,” Bass said.
Today, Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth was pressed by members of congress about the cost of the federal deployment, as well as photos showing troops sleeping on the floor.
“We are ensuring they’re housed, fed, water capabilities in real time from my office, because I care that much about the California guard and the marines and the men and women who are supporting crises on the ground. It’s true every day. And that’s a disingenuous attack that misrepresents how much we care about our troops and what they’re doing to defend ice agents. I’m not going to take the fact that we don’t care about the troops. Nobody cares more about the troops at the top than this secretary,” Hegseth said.
Florida lawmakers appear close to working on state budget deal
Budget chiefs in Tallahassee report they can see the light at the end of the tunnel when it comes to budget negotiations.
Currently, the extended legislative session runs out in 8 days, but Republican leadership in the state’s capitol appear to believe they are close to an agreement.
“I think we’re in a great spot. Representative McClure and I have chatted. I have lost count how many times today and this week. The presiding officers are communicating. I think every silo is something we have closed out. I think we are extremely fairly close to maybe seeing a light at the end of this tunnel,” Florida Sen. Ed Hooper said.
Leaders have said they would ideally like members to be home for Father’s Day on Sunday.
If the budget drops tomorrow, there would be a required 72-hour cooling-off period before they can vote on it. The earliest they could vote on would be Saturday.
Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis discussed the ongoing talks during a bill signing event Tuesday.
“These guys, they’re still, it’s June 10, and we don’t have a budget, and the fiscal year ends at the end of the month, and hopefully that gets resolved this week,” DeSantis said.