Trump: I Saved Los Angeles From Being 'Obliterated'

President Trump on Monday called his decision to deploy the National Guard in Los Angeles a "great" one and says it saved the city from being "completely obliterated." In a Truth Social post, the president also criticized the "very incompetent" California Gov. Gavin Newsom as well as Los Angeles Mayor Karen Bass:

• Both "should be saying, 'THANK YOU, PRESIDENT TRUMP, YOU ARE SO WONDERFUL. WE WOULD BE NOTHING WITHOUT YOU, SIR.' Instead, they choose to lie to the People of California and America by saying that we weren't needed, and that these are "peaceful protests.' Just one look at the pictures and videos of the Violence and Destruction tells you all you have to know."

• Newsom, meanwhile, confirmed on Monday that the state will sue the Trump administration over its decision to call in the National Guard without consulting the governor's office, per the AP. Newsom called the rare move "an illegal act, an immoral act, an unconstitutional act" during an MSNBC interview. Over the weekend, Newsom's legal affairs secretary, David Sapp, wrote to defense chief Pete Hegseth to warn that calling in the Guard "risks seriously escalating the situation," per the New York Times.
• About 150 people have been arrested in the protests since Friday. Some of the most serious damage has come in the form of burned cars, including several robot-taxi Waymos. The Los Angeles Times reports on an "ugly night of vandalism" Sunday in which downtown businesses were vandalized or burglarized. Protesters also threw rocks and electric scooters on police vehicles. The city is bracing for more protests Monday night.