'No, no, no, no, no': GOP lawmaker shut down over LA protest violence blame

Rep. Nicole Malliotakis (R-NY) got a lesson on how the government works on CNN on Sunday when a former DOJ official explained to her that the escalation of violence in Los Angeles can solely be linked back to Donald Trump's firing spree since taking office.

During the panel segment on CNN's "State of the Union," the New York Republican claimed that the president had no choice but to send the National Guard to Los Angeles to quell the protests of ICE immigrant sweeps despite Califonia lawmakers saying there is no need.

With the pro-immigrant, anti-ICE protests growing, Malliotakis asserted, , "You see an ICE agents attacked, you've seen their cars put on fire, stones thrown at them –– this is unacceptable and you're also talking about enforcement of our immigration laws."

As she stated people who have been taken into custody have been, "... gang members, these were drug traffickers, human smugglers, people who committed robbery, child abuse, sex, offense, the worst of the worst," she was interrupted with, "Are you sure that they were?" to which she responded, "Well that's what the reporting says."

After adding, "The fact that, look, we would not have this situation in Los Angeles if it were not that they had this sanctuary status that refuses cooperation with ICE agents. It makes it more dangerous for everyone, the agents and the community when the ICE agents have to go in there and find these criminals instead of the city and state turning them over," former DOJ Public Affairs Director Xochitl Hinojosa took exception.

"Well, it was also children and mothers, and there's video of violence against these ––are mothers and small children and the videos are terrible," she told the GOP lawmaker. "What I'll say is it is a president's responsibility to de-escalate a situation anytime there is violence in our country. Then they should work with local law enforcement to do that."

"What happened here is sending in the National Guard only escalates it," she continued. "Hegseth saying that he wants to send in the Marines that are equipped for war only escalates it. You know, arresting the president of SEIU and going in and conducting raids only escalates. The interesting part about this is the Department of Justice would normally go in through the Community Relations Service; they did this with George Floyd. They've done this with a whole bunch of other instances where they go in and they work with state and local law enforcement to de-escalate what is happening."

"The problem here is that Trump essentially fired everyone in the Community Relations Service, he did, I worked there" she continued as the GOP lawmaker objected. No, no, no, no, no! The federal government's role is to help state and. local law enforcement, to deescalate. He essentially got rid of all of those employees because he does not believe in civil rights, and instead he's escalating it by sending in the National Guard."

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