House Democrat Blasts Trump for Going After ‘Peaceful’ Protests — As CNN Plays Footage of a Burning Car

Rep. Nanette Barragán (D-CA) criticized President Donald Trump on Sunday for sending the California National Guard into Los Angeles, accusing him of targeting “peaceful protests” amid a growing immigration backlash in the state.

Barragán made the remarks on CNN’s State of the Union while speaking with anchor Dana Bash.

As she defended demonstrators, CNN aired footage from Saturday of a car engulfed in flames at an intersection in Los Angeles.

“The president is sending the National Guard because he doesn’t like the scenes,” Barragán said as the images played behind her. “He doesn’t like the scenes of people peacefully protesting.”

Barragán did acknowledge during the interview that not all of those at demonstrations had been peaceful.

“Those are not the people that are coming out to protest immigration,” she told Bash, referring to violent demonstrators who set fires, vandalized stores, and threw objects at police.

“We agree that if you’re being violent, you should be arrested,” she said. “You should be prosecuted. There is no disagreement on that.”

The congresswoman said she had spoken with the LA County sheriff on Saturday evening and was told an initial anti-ICE protest in Paramount had been peaceful.

By the time violence erupted, she said, most legitimate protesters had dispersed, and the unrest had spread to neighboring Compton.

Protests sparked by Trump’s immigration enforcement policies and a controversial ICE raid in Southern California last week did turn violent in some areas of LA County Saturday.

Trump federalized California’s National Guard, bypassing Democratic California Gov. Gavin Newsom.

After Trump congratulated the National Guard from his Truth Social account Sunday, Newsome fired back on X.

The governor wrote, “Smart guys running the operation. The National Guard wasn’t even deployed on the ground when Trump posted this. Pete Hegseth runs the Pentagon as well as he throws an axe on a Fox News set.”

Watch above via CNN.