"[Trump] invaded last June with federal troops for no reason at all to intimidate a whole sector of our population, Latino immigrants," Bass said, according to a clip of the interview published by Breitbart.
The mayor's remarks came as part of a broader attack on the administration's immigration enforcement operations in California, which she characterized as an indiscriminate campaign against a single community. Bass did not offer additional evidence during the segment to support her claim that the deployment's purpose was intimidation, and the White House has consistently said federal personnel were sent to protect federal property and enforce immigration law amid violent protests.
Bass's comments landed roughly 24 hours after President Trump drew a wave of criticism from California officials for a remark he made during a rally in Grand Island, Nebraska, where he argued that containing a nuclear-armed Iran was worth a steep cost.
"It's a small price to pay for keeping the world safe, keeping our country safe," Trump said Monday at the rally, per FOX 11 Los Angeles. "They can take out a city — let them take out Los Angeles, let them take out San Diego. This is a very small price to pay."
California Gov. Gavin Newsom responded on X, writing that "after sending the National Guard and Marines to occupy California, Donald Trump is now saying our foreign enemies should 'take out' Los Angeles and San Diego," and calling the president "deranged and dangerous."
Bass also posted to X, saying the president's remarks were "dangerous and could potentially compromise our safety."
"The President of the United States suggested that a foreign government attack Los Angeles," she wrote. "The role of a president is to protect the country, not to actively threaten it and encourage attacks on American lives. In the face of irresponsible threats, as Angelenos, we know how to stand together and protect our city."
Republican Congressman Darrell Issa defended the president, pointing to decades of attacks on American soil by Iran and its proxies and arguing that the administration's posture had changed under Trump.
"For five decades, Americans on American soil have shed blood and lost their lives at the hands of Iran and its terrorist proxies," Issa said, per FOX 11. "Where the Obama and Biden Administrations appeased Tehran, paid them billions in bribes, and put them on a glide path to having nuclear weapons, President Trump has taken historic and concrete action to eliminate the nuclear threat, protect every inch of our homeland, and ensure Iran never threatens America or her allies ever again."
White House spokesman Cheung pushed back on the media reaction, saying the president was describing the threat a nuclear Iran would have posed to U.S. cities — not calling for an attack on them.
"The media freakout over President Trump's comments is not rooted in reality," Cheung wrote on X. "He was clearly stating U.S. cities would have been threatened if a nuclear Iran hadn't been stopped. America is safer because of the President. Iran has no nuclear, no navy, no air force, and no money."
The back-and-forth between Los Angeles officials and the White House comes as federal immigration enforcement operations continue across the country, with the administration arguing that sanctuary-city policies in places like Los Angeles hinder cooperation with federal authorities. Bass has been a vocal opponent of those operations, and her CNN appearance marks the latest in a series of public clashes between City Hall and the administration over the deployment of federal personnel to the region.
The June deployment involved National Guard and Marines, which the administration framed as necessary to protect federal facilities and personnel. Local officials at the time argued the presence was heavy-handed and provocative. The two sides remain far apart on what actually happened on the ground and why.
Our Take
Karen Bass went on national television and called the presence of American troops in an American city an "invasion." That's the word she chose. Not a deployment. Not a law enforcement operation. An invasion — the same word you'd use for a foreign army crossing a border. And she aimed it at the President of the United States, on CNN, with no evidence that the troops' actual mission was to intimidate anyone.
Here's what Bass won't tell you: federal personnel were sent to Los Angeles because the city has spent years refusing to cooperate with federal immigration authorities, and because protests outside federal facilities spiraled badly enough that the government said it needed to protect its own property and people. If Bass has a problem with that, she should take it up with the sanctuary-city policies her own administration has championed. Those policies are the reason the feds had to show up in the first place.
And the timing of her comments — one day after her office blasted Trump over a Nebraska rally remark about Iran — makes the political calculation plain. Bass and Newsom are running the same playbook they've used for years: paint every federal action as an attack on Los Angeles, every enforcement operation as cruelty, every security measure as racism. It's a fundraising pitch dressed up as moral outrage.
Latino immigrants who came here legally aren't being "intimidated" by the presence of federal officers enforcing the law. They're being ill-served by a mayor who treats their community as a political prop while the real crisis — illegal immigration, cartel activity, and the lawlessness that comes with sanctuary policies — goes unaddressed. Bass had a chance to stand with law enforcement and with the legal immigrants she claims to represent. Instead, she stood with the cameras.
Patriots, ask yourself a simple question: If your city's mayor called the U.S. military an invading force on national television, whose side is she really on? Then call your representatives and tell them you stand with law and order — not with the politicians who profit from chaos.
