Speaker Johnson, backing Trump's LA actions, says Newsom should be 'tarred and feathered'
Speaker Mike Johnson on Tuesday once again aligned himself with President Donald Trump, saying the president is "absolutely right" to send the National Guard and Marines to Los Angeles as protests over against Immigration and Customs Enforcement continue -- and sided with the president's criticism of California Gov. Gavin Newsom, adding that the California governor should be "tarred and feathered."
Johnson said Trump is "fully in his authority right now to do what he is doing" to "maintain order" -- including deploying 4,000 National Guardsmen and 700 Marines to Los Angeles as demonstrators clash with law enforcement amid the protests.
"President Trump has put his hand on the table and said 'Not on my watch,' and we applaud that so we're standing with him," Johnson said during a news conference.
Johnson would not weigh in on whether Newsom should be arrested -- a suggestion Trump made Monday -- but said Newsom should be "tarred and feathered."
"Look, that's not my lane. I'm not going to give you legal analysis on whether Gavin Newsom should be arrested, but he ought to be tarred and feathered," the speaker said.
Newsom fired back in a post on X: "Good to know we're skipping the arrest and going straight for the 1700's style forms of punishment. A fitting threat given the @GOP want to bring our country back to the 18th Century."
The California governor responded to Trump's arrest comment on Monday, calling it "an unmistakable step toward authoritarianism."
Johnson accused Newsom of focusing more on rebranding himself than protecting the state and its citizens.
"Do your job, man. That's what I tell Gavin Newsom, do your job," Johnson added. "Stop working on your rebranding and be a governor. Stand up for the rule of law. And he's not doing that."
Newsom has called the deployments by Trump "a blatant abuse of power" and sued the administration over the move.
Johnson took the opportunity to plug the House-passed tax and immigration bill, which the Senate is negotiating. The immigration woes at the center of the Los Angeles protests can be remedied by the "One Big Beautiful Bill Act" that supports Trump's legislative agenda, Johnson said. He called on Democrats to end the "chaos" and "nonsense" and support the bill.
The legislation boosts spending for the military and border security as well as extends the Trump 2017 tax cuts -- while making some cuts to Medicaid, SNAP and other assistance programs. It could also add $3 trillion to the deficit over the next decade, according to an analysis from the nonpartisan Congressional Budget Office.
Later Tuesday, Johnson said the violence in Los Angeles is not comparable to the Jan. 6 insurrection at the U.S. Capitol, and said Trump's mass pardons of Jan. 6 rioters were not hypocritical.
"Everybody wants me to relitigate Jan. 6. I'm not going to do that. There's a very clear distinction between the two. The people who broke the law and destroyed property [were] met with the proper consequences on [Jan. 6]," Johnson said, adding that he is "trying to be intellectually consistent about this."
Other congressional Republicans appear to be in lockstep behind Trump and his decision to deploy National Guard and Marines to Los Angeles.
"... What [Trump's] doing [is] enforcing the rule of law," Republican Rep. Ralph Norman said, adding that "Trump's doing the right things."
Republican Rep. Ron Estes said he supports Trump's decision and said he believes "it's important that we have the rule of law and order in the United States."
Republican Sen. Kevin Cramer said that he supported Trump's decision to deploy the Marines, saying he hopes their presence "deters" people from violence and brings "peace."
"Hopefully their presence will be a deterrent to violence. Obviously, there's a right to assemble, and there's a right to peacefully protest -- and then there's what they're doing. So clearly, the state needs help, and the president's sending help, hopefully, hopefully it'll bring some peace," Cramer said.
Cramer said that Trump, as the president and therefore the authority on federal immigration policy, has a "responsibility" to act in response to the protests.
"The president has a responsibility to the United States, and he has a federal nexus with regard to immigration policy, and he's exercising it, and I think he's exercising exactly what he said he'd do and what people elected him to do," Cramer said.
Republican Sen. John Kennedy backed Trump's decision to deploy the troops.
"I think he didn't have a choice," Kennedy told ABC News of Trump's move to deploy the National Guard and Marines.
"I think he needs to follow the law, but I think he needs to send in federal troops because it's clear to me the governor and the mayor were going to do nothing. Zero, zilch, nada. He might have met with the rioters and offered them a cup of hot cocoa and a hug and some enthusiastic encouragement, but in terms of containing the riots, they weren't going to do anything."
Several Republican senators were quick to criticize Newsom, too.
Republican Sen. John Cornyn said he thought Newsom "probably would love it" if there were an effort to arrest him.
"Make him a hero and a martyr," Cornyn jested.
ABC News' John Parkinson contributed to this report.
