Kristi Noem Claims Los Angeles ‘Wouldn’t Be Standing’ if Trump Hadn’t Sent Troops to Stop Protests

Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem said Los Angeles “wouldn’t be standing” if President Donald Trump had not deployed the National Guard to thwart anti-ICE protests in June, during an interview on Face the Nation on CBS News on Sunday.

Noem took a jab at California Gov. Gavin Newsom and LA Mayor Karen Bass, saying the pair were incompetent and incapable of handling the situation.

“That city would have burned down if left to the devices of the mayor and the governor of that state,” Noem said. “And so the citizens who live there, the small business owners in downtown LA, they’re thankful that President Trump came in with federal law enforcement officers and helped support keeping those streets open, keep their homes and businesses from burning down, and made sure that law and order was restored.”

Ed O’Keefe, filling in for regular Face the Nation host Margaret Brennan, jumped in and asked Noem to “clarify” her comment that LA would not be standing if not for Trump’s intervention. Noem responded by saying it was  “incredibly important” to restore peace for the homes and businesses in downtown LA and other parts of the city that were dealing with violent riots.

“We are grateful that President Trump was willing to send resources and people in, in order to enforce the law,” Noem continued. “And since then, we have arrested 5,000 dangerous illegal criminals out of LA and removed them from our country and had them face justice for their crimes.”

More recently, the president has floated the idea he will deploy the National Guard to LA and other major cities like Chicago to combat crime, after he made the same move in Washington, D.C. earlier this month.

You can watch that back-and-forth between O’Keefe and Noem above, via CBS News.