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By Daniel Bush
White House Correspondent
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The White House on Wednesday slammed California Gov. Gavin Newsom's handling of days of demonstrations in Los Angeles, some of which turned violent, as tensions escalated over President Donald Trump's deployment of National Guard troops and Marines to the state to assist in protecting federal buildings and ICE agents carrying out immigration enforcement.
A senior White House official hit back after Newsom criticized Trump in a nationally televised speech Tuesday night, saying the California Democrat and rumored 2028 hopeful was more focused on his "future political ambitions" than quelling the unrest in Los Angeles.
"[Newsom] spoke a lot of words. We haven't seen action," White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt said Wednesday.
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Leavitt also said Newsom and Los Angeles' Democratic Mayor Karen Bass are "attempting to use a violent mob as a weapon" to oppose the Trump administration's immigration policies.
"Those images of the foreign flags being waved by illegal criminals and violent rioters in the face of cars blowing up ... is an image that Governor Gavin Newsom owns," Leavitt said. "This is his city."
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Newsom said in his address that he would continue opposing Trump's decision to deploy National Guard troops and Marines to California without his request. California has sued the Trump administration over the moves.
"We do not want our streets militarized by our own Armed Forces. Not in L.A. Not in California. Not anywhere," Newsom said. The governor cast the clash with Trump in national terms, saying that "democracy is under assault right before our eyes."
The back and forth comes after Bass imposed an overnight curfew Tuesday in downtown Los Angeles, and as the Marines that Trump ordered to California prepared to deploy across the city in response to the protests over ICE raids.
Demonstrations against Trump's immigration policies also spread to other parts of the country from Los Angeles this week.
Thousands of protestors demonstrated Tuesday in Chicago, New York and Atlanta. Protests are planned Wednesday in other cities including Las Vegas, San Antonio and Seattle. Hundreds of people have been arrested so far across the country, according to law enforcement officials, including more than 300 in Los Angeles alone.
Republican Texas Gov. Gregg Abbott said Tuesday that he would deploy National Guard troops to respond to protests across the state, where demonstrations have so far been relatively muted. Abbott is the first governor to make the move since the protests in Los Angeles started last week.
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