Mayor Karen Bass Friday called allegations made by Vice President JD Vance “outright lies” for depicting her and Gov. Gavin Newsom as inciting violent protests and encouraging “illegal migration.”
“Today, the vice president of the United States spent three or four hours in L.A. before holding a press conference and spewing lies and utter nonsense in an attempt to provoke division and conflict in our city,” Bass said at a City Hall news conference.
“This is consistent with the provocation from Washington that began two weeks ago when our city was calm and millions of Angelenos were going about working and contributing to our city. The provocation has resulted in lives disrupted, terror and fear spread throughout our city.”
The Trump administration has criticized Bass and Newsom for so-called “sanctuary” policies and accused them of hampering federal efforts to enforce immigration laws and arrest people in the country without legal permission.
Vance delivered scathing criticism against Bass and Newsom in his news conference.
“You had people who were doing the simple job of enforcing the law, and they had rioters egged on by the governor and the mayor, making it harder to do their job,” Vance said during remarks at a federal facility, flanked by representatives of the FBI, the District Attorney’s Office, the U.S. Marines and various other federal officials.
At one point, Vance described the atmosphere in Los Angeles as “open season on federal officers.”
Bass responded to Vance’s comments by saying, “I just want you to know that our city is standing together. We are united. You might attempt to create division, but we are united. Standing with me today are families, business owners, community leaders, representatives, and nothing can divide us.”
Bass also criticized Vance for wrongly naming California Sen. Alex Padilla.
“How dare you disrespect him and call him Jose. But I guess he just looked like anybody to you,” Bass said. “Well, he’s not just anybody to us. He is our senator.”
Bass also mentioned the curfew she imposed on a one square mile area of downtown Los Angeles on June 10 in response to looting and vandalism which police said reduced those crimes in the area. She lifted it Tuesday.
Hear this woman’s been dead for years and y’all are still worried about her and she calls out dance because hell she can’t find another white man because her husband disappeared years ago so being that they’re both dead and all three have been missing for years you know it just makes no sense that she’s making headlines