The House Oversight Committee is now probing the riots in Los Angeles and how California officials handled the situation, according to Fox News Digital. Rep. James Comer, R-Ky., and Rep. Clay Higgins, R-La., who chairs the subcommittee on law enforcement, sent letters to California Gov. Gavin Newsom, Los Angeles Mayor Karen Bass, and the Department of Justice (DOJ) on Friday. The letters, which Comer described as the committee’s inquiry into the events in Los Angeles, accuse the officials of failing to address the violence and falsely blaming President Trump for the riots.
Comer’s letters to the DOJ emphasize the severity of the violence, with reports of rioters setting fire to vehicles and attacking law enforcement with deadly weapons such as rocks and Molotov cocktails. “Assaults on law enforcement officers legally executing their orders are reprehensible and those responsible must be dealt with in accordance with the severity of their actions,” Comer wrote. The Oversight Committee has also accused Newsom and Bass of having “protested President Trump’s action to quell the violence caused by the rioters in Los Angeles, even resorting to falsely blaming him for the actions of violent rioters.” The letters further criticized the officials for their support of California’s sanctuary policies, which prevent local law enforcement from cooperating with federal immigration authorities.
The probe includes requests for documentation of any communications between Bass and Newsom regarding the protests, as well as their communications with state, local, and federal law enforcement. Comer is also asking for a staff-level briefing on the demonstrations. Days of rioting erupted in Los Angeles after Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) raids resulted in over 100 suspected illegal immigrants being arrested last weekend. President Donald Trump sent the National Guard into Los Angeles over Newsom’s objections, a move that Democrats have accused him of unnecessarily escalating the situation, while his GOP allies argue it was a necessary step to control the unrest.
Comer claimed that law enforcement were forced to use pepper spray to disperse crowds and made dozens of arrests, blaming the escalation on the rioters. A federal judge ruled on Thursday that Trump must return control of the California National Guard to Newsom, but an appeals court quickly reversed that decision. The demonstrations in Los Angeles, while severe, are not isolated, with activists across the country joining protests against the Trump administration’s crackdown on illegal immigration. Fox News Digital reached out to Bass, Newsom, and the DOJ for comment but has not yet received a response.