The speaker of the House wasn't willing to weigh in on whether California Gov. Gavin Newsom should be arrested, but he was willing to weigh in on the appropriateness of an arguably worse fate. "Look, that's not my lane," Mike Johnson told reporters during a Tuesday press conference. "I'm not going to give you legal analysis on whether Gavin Newsom should be arrested, but he ought to be tarred and feathered. I'll say that." He said, per NBC News, that law enforcement agents are being "assaulted" during the anti-ICE protests in Los Angeles, and that Newsom is an "accomplice" to, and even a "participant" in, that.
Newsom, Johnson said, is "standing in the way of the administration and the carrying out of federal law, right? He is applauding the bad guys and standing in the way of the good guys." Newsom responded on X, "Good to know we're skipping the arrest and going straight for the 1700's style forms of punishment. A fitting threat given the @GOP want to bring our country back to the 18th Century." The back-and-forth came as officials implemented a curfew for parts of downtown Los Angeles.
In a televised address Tuesday night, Newsom said protests in the city started Thursday. "This situation was winding down and was concentrated in just a few square blocks downtown," Newsom said, per CNN. "But that—that's not want Donald Trump wanted. He again chose escalation. He chose more force. He chose theatrics over public safety." He continued, per the AP, "California may be first, but it clearly will not end here. Other states are next. Democracy is next. Democracy is under assault before our eyes. This moment we have feared has arrived." (More Los Angeles protests stories.)
,
uBlock 
,
and
Ghostery 
)
