President Trump has accused rioters in Los Angeles of being "paid insurrectionists", as he doubled down on his defence of sending in the National Guard to deal with the violent demonstrations.
Speaking at a White House press conference, Trump labelled the protesters "animals", claiming that LA would "be on fire" if it were not for his intervention.
Taking aim at the local governors, Trump said the authorities would be getting "less money" from the administration as a result of their "incompetence".
The President explained: "We're going to give out less money, we're going to give it out directly, it'll be from the President's office, so we're going to do it much differently.
Donald Trump has branded rioters 'paid insurrectionists', as he defended his decision to send in the National Guard
Reuters
"I'd say after the hurricane season, we'll start facing up a Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) counsel. Over the next couple of months, we'll be working on reforms."
In a direct attack on California Governor Gavin Newsom, Trump revealed that he'd had a phone call with him just a day ago where he accused him of doing a "bad job" of dealing with the riots.
Trump told reporters: "I called him up to tell him, 'you got to do a better job'. He's done a bad job, causing a lot of death and a lot of a lot of potential death.
"If we didn't send out the National Guard, and last time we gave them a little additional help, Los Angeles would be burning right now."
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The riots were sparked following the arrests of more than a dozen people, accused of impeding immigration agentsGettyFurther defending his decision to send in the National Guard, Trump claimed that they had "total control" of the "animals" taking part in the riots.
Trump explained: "It would have been bad last night, but they had total control. If we didn't have the military in there, the National Guard, and then we also sent in some Marines, we had some bad people.
"We have people that look in your face and they spit right in your face, they're animals. And these are paid insurrectionists, these are paid troublemakers, they're agitators. They're paid."
Questioning the actions of the rioters, Trump said: "Do you think somebody walks up to a curb and such hammering pieces out, has all the equipment necessary, and starts handing it out to people to use as a weapon?
"These are paid insurrectionists or agitators or troublemakers, you can call it whatever you want."
Trump claimed that the National Guard were sent in 'late' to deal with the riots
GB News
Noting that they have arrested some of the protesters, Trump reiterated that governors were "too slow" to take action on the riots.
Trump stated: "We have in custody some very bad people. Los Angeles was under siege until we got there, the police were unable to handle it. They're great people, but they're given instructions not to do this, not to do that. But in this case, they were trying their best, they were not able to handle it. It was out of control when we got there.
"I waited for governors to send in the National Guard, they wouldn't do it. It kept going on and on, it got worse and worse. It's usually radical left, and it's usually governors that are Democrat and they don't want to call them in, they don't want to save lives, they don't want to save property. They don't want to call them in.
"We sent them in late, as far as I'm concerned. Three nights ago, big problems were ensuing. If we didn't send in the National Guard quickly right now, Los Angeles would be burning to the ground."
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