Los Angeles latest: Trump claims LA was ‘under siege’ and ‘would be burning’ if he hadn’t sent in troops; protests expected to spread | US News

Our partner network NBC News has reached out to the White House for a response to California governor Gavin Newsom claiming Donald Trump didn’t call him yesterday.

White House communications director Steven Cheung issued this statement…

“The president called Gavin Newsom to tell him to get his ass in gear. The governor has clearly decided to disgustingly side with the violent rioters instead of protecting Californians. 

“The only liar here is Newsom who continues to fail his state as he prioritises doing interviews with leftist media to gaslight the public instead of helping his state.”

How did this start?

In the Oval Office today, Trump was asked when he last spoke to Newsom.

“A day ago,” the president replied.

“Called him up to tell him, got to do a better job. He’s doing a bad job. Causing a lot of death and a lot of potential death. If we didn’t send out the National Guard, Los Angeles would be burning right now.”

In response to Trump’s comments in the Oval Office, Newsom’s office said: “Trump and Newsom did not speak since Friday.”

A Newsom aide added that a review of the governor’s phone did not show a missed call or voicemail from the president since then.