00:00I want to say a few words about the events of the last few days.
00:04This past weekend, federal agents conducted large-scale workplace raids in and around
00:08Los Angeles.
00:10Those raids continue as I speak.
00:12California is no stranger to immigration enforcement.
00:15But instead of focusing on undocumented immigrants with serious criminal records and people with
00:20final deportation orders, a strategy both parties have long supported, this administration
00:26is pushing mass deportations, indiscriminately targeting hard-working immigrant families
00:32regardless of their roots or risk.
00:36What's happening right now is very different than anything we've seen before.
00:41On Saturday morning, when federal agents jumped out of an unmarked van near a Home Depot parking
00:46lot, they began grabbing people, a deliberate targeting of a heavily Latino suburb.
00:52A similar scene played out when a clothing company was raided downtown.
00:56In other actions, a U.S. citizen, nine months pregnant, was arrested, a four-year-old girl
01:03taken, families separated, friends quite literally disappearing.
01:09In response, everyday Angelenos came out to exercise their constitutional right to free
01:15speech and assembly, to protest their government's actions.
01:19In turn, the state of California and the city and county of Los Angeles sent our police officers
01:25to help keep the peace.
01:27And with some exceptions, they were successful.
01:30Like many states, California is no stranger to this sort of unrest.
01:36We manage it regularly and with our own law enforcement.
01:39But this, again, was different.
01:42What then ensued was the use of tear gas, flashbang grenades, rubber bullets, federal agents detaining
01:49people and undermining their due process rights.
01:53Donald Trump, without consulting California law enforcement leaders, commandeered 2,000 of
02:00our state's National Guard members to deploy on our streets, illegally and for no reason.
02:07This brazen abuse of power by a sitting president inflamed a combustible situation, putting our
02:13people, our officers and even our National Guard at risk.
02:18That's when the downward spiral began.
02:20He doubled down on his dangerous National Guard deployment by fanning the flames even harder.
02:26And the president, he did it on purpose.
02:29As the news spread throughout LA, anxiety for family and friends ramped up.
02:35Protests started again.
02:37By night, several dozen lawbreakers became violent and destructive.
02:42They vandalized property.
02:43They tried to assault police officers.
02:45Many of you have seen the video clips of cars burning on cable news.
02:49If you incite violence, I want to be clear about this.
02:52If you incite violence or destroy our communities, you're going to be held to account.
02:57That kind of criminal behavior will not be tolerated, full stop.
03:01Already more than 220 people have been arrested and we're reviewing tapes to build additional
03:06cases and people will be prosecuted to the fullest extent of the law.
03:11Again, thanks to our law enforcement officers and the majority of Angelenos who protested peacefully,
03:18the situation was winding down and was concentrated in just a few square blocks downtown.
03:25But that's not what Donald Trump wanted.
03:28He again chose escalation.
03:30He chose more force.
03:32He chose theatrics over public safety.
03:35He federalized another 2,000 Guard members.
03:38He deployed more than 700 active U.S. Marines.
03:43These are the men and women trained for foreign combat, not domestic law enforcement.
03:48We honor their service.
03:50We honor their bravery.
03:52But we do not want our streets militarized by our own armed forces.
03:56Not in L.A.
03:57Not in California.
03:59Not anywhere.
04:00We're seeing unmarked cars.
04:02Unmarked cars in school parking lots.
04:05Kids afraid of attending their own graduation.
04:09Donald Trump is pulling a military dragnet all across Los Angeles, well beyond his stated
04:15intent to just go after violent and serious criminals.
04:19His agents are arresting dishwashers, gardeners, day laborers, and seamstresses.
04:26That's just weakness, weakness masquerading as strength.
04:30Donald Trump's government isn't protecting our communities.
04:33They're traumatizing our communities.
04:35And that seems to be the entire point.
04:38California will keep fighting.
04:40It will keep fighting on behalf of our people, all of our people, including in the courts.
04:45Just yesterday, we filed a legal challenge to Donald Trump's reckless deployment of American
04:51troops to a major American city.
04:53Today, we sought an emergency court order to stop the use of the American military to engage
04:59in law enforcement activities across Los Angeles.
05:03If some of us could be snatched off the streets without a warrant, based only on suspicion or
05:08skin color, then none of us are safe.
05:12Authoritarian regimes begin by targeting people who are least able to defend themselves.
05:17But they do not stop there.
05:20Trump and his loyalists, they thrive on division because it allows them to take more power and
05:25exert even more control.
05:27And by the way, Trump is not opposed to lawlessness and violence as long as it serves him.
05:34What more evidence do we need than January 6th?
05:37I ask everyone, take time, reflect on this perilous moment.
05:43A president who wants to be bound by no law or constitution, perpetuating a unified assault
05:51on American traditions.
05:53This is a president who in just over 140 days has fired government watchdogs that could hold
05:59him accountable, accountable for corruption and fraud.
06:03He's declared a war, a war on culture, on history, on science, on knowledge itself.
06:08Databases quite literally are vanishing.
06:12He's delegitimizing news organizations and he's assaulting the First Amendment.
06:17In the threat of defunding them, at threat he's dictating what universities themselves
06:22can teach.
06:23He's targeting law firms and the judicial branch that are the foundations of an orderly
06:28and civil society.
06:30He's calling for a sitting governor to be arrested for no other reason than to, in his own words,
06:37for getting elected.
06:38And we all know this Saturday, he's ordering our American heroes, the United States military,
06:44forcing them to put on a vulgar display to celebrate his birthday, just as other failed
06:51dictators have done in the past.
06:53Look, this isn't just about protests here in Los Angeles.
06:58When Donald Trump sought blanket authority to commandeer the National Guard, he made that
07:02order apply to every state in this nation.
07:05This is about all of us.
07:07This is about you.
07:10California may be first, but it clearly will not end here.
07:13Other states are next.
07:15Democracy is next.
07:17Democracy is under assault before our eyes.
07:20This moment we have feared has arrived.
07:23He's taking a wrecking ball, a wrecking ball to our founding fathers historic project.
07:28Three co-equal branches of independent government are no longer any checks and balances.
07:34Congress is nowhere to be found.
07:37Speaker Johnson has completely abdicated that responsibility.
07:41The rule of law has increasingly been given way to the rule of Don.
07:47The founding fathers, they didn't live and die to see this kind of moment.
07:51It's time for all of us to stand up.
07:53Justice Brandeis, he said it best.
07:55In a democracy, the most important office, with all due respect, Mr. President, is not
08:00the presidency.
08:01And it's certainly not governor.
08:03The most important office is office of citizen.
08:06At this moment, at this moment, we all need to stand up and be held to account a higher
08:12level of accountability.
08:14If you exercise your First Amendment rights, please, please do it peacefully.
08:19I know many of you are feeling deep anxiety, stress, and fear, but I want you to know that
08:25you are the antidote to that fear and that anxiety.
08:29What Donald Trump wants most is your fealty, your silence to be complicit in this moment.
08:36Do not give in to him.
08:37Do not give in to him.
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