BURSTAttorney General Pam Bondi told reporters Wednesday that efforts to quell unrest in Los Angeles are working but that federal authorities are “not scared to go further” if necessary.
Asked what the threshold would be for the Trump administration invoke the Insurrection Act, Bondi touted the steps the administration has already taken and seemed to suggest further steps were not imminent.
"Right now, in California, what we're doing is working,” the nation's top prosecutor told reporters. “By bringing in the National Guard, by bringing in the Marines, right now, to back them up, to protect our federal buildings, to protect highways, to protect the citizens.”
“So, right now, in California, we're at a good point,” she continued. “We're not scared to go further. We're not frightened to do something else if we need to.”
The Trump administration has deployed thousands of National Guard troops to protect federal buildings and has mobilized hundreds of Marines to back up its federal agents.
The military is generally barred from carrying out domestic law enforcement duties, but declaring the Insurrection Act is seen as a potential path around those restrictions.
Trump has not ruled out using the law but has stopped short of taking that significant step.
Bondi also pointed to the curfew implemented in downtown Los Angeles on Tuesday night as a step in the right direction.
“Right now, we’re hoping it's going to get under control,” she said. “We hope the curfew will work, and we're going to continue to do everything we can to keep California safe if the government of California is not going to help them."
The president also doubled down on the decision to deploy troops earlier Wednesday, as his feud with California Gov. Gavin Newsom (D) was heating up.
"If our troops didn’t go into Los Angeles, it would be burning to the ground right now, just like so much of their housing burned to the ground," he wrote on Truth Social. "The great people of Los Angeles are very lucky that I made the decision to go in and help!!!"
The comment came after Newsom, in a late Tuesday video message, called the administration's response a "brazen abuse of power."