Vice President JD Vance on Friday accused California Gov. Gavin Newsom and Los Angeles Mayor Karen Bass of encouraging violent immigration protests as he used his appearance in Los Angeles to rebut criticism from state and local officials that the Trump administration fueled the unrest by sending in federal officers.
Vance also referred to Sen. Alex Padilla, the state's first Latino U.S. senator, as "Jose Padilla," a week after the Democrat was forcibly taken to the ground by officers and handcuffed after speaking out during a Los Angeles news conference by Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem on immigration raids.
Vance visited Los Angeles on Friday to meet with Marines and National Guard troops deployed to bring peace to the city amid immigration protests.
"I was hoping Jose Padilla would be here to ask a question," Vance said, in an apparent reference to the altercation at Noem's event. "I guess he decided not to show up because there wasn't a theater. And that's all it is.
"They want to be able to go back to their far-left groups and to say, 'Look, me, I stood up against border enforcement. I stood up against Donald Trump,'" Vance added.
A spokesperson for Padilla, Tess Oswald, noted in a social media post that Padilla and Vance were formerly colleagues in the Senate and said that Vance should know better. "He should be more focused on demilitarizing our city than taking cheap shots," Oswald said.
Los Angeles Mayor Karen Bass fired back at Vance in a separate media briefing.
"Mr. Vice President, how dare you disrespect our senator? You don't know his name?"
Bass added that Vance certainly does know the senator's name.
"You serve with him today and how dare you disrespect him and call him Jose. But I guess he just looked like anybody to you," she said.
Vance said California Gov. Gavin Newsom and Mayor Karen Bass "egged on" rioters in Los Angeles during the recent protests that led to Trump's activating the National Guard.
Vance said during his Friday visit to LA, "What happened here was a tragedy. You had people who were doing the simple job of enforcing the law, and you had rioters, egged on by the governor and the mayor, making it harder for them to do their job."
Newsom challenged Trump's activation of Guard troops but was rebuffed by a federal appeals court.
Vance said the troop deployment will continue.
"Unfortunately, the soldiers and marines are still very much a necessary part of what's going on here because they're worried that it's gonna flare back up," he said.
Information from The Associated Press was used in this report.
Jim Mishler ✉
Jim Mishler, a seasoned reporter, anchor and news director, has decades of experience covering crime, politics and environmental issues.
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