This Is Not a Peaceful Protest: Leavitt Dismantles Media’s Riot Narrative at the White House

Leavitt called it what it is—a violent uprising and shut down a reporter’s question so hard, she looked like she was about to cry.

In her first full White House briefing since the riots in Los Angeles began, Karoline Leavitt wasted no time setting the record straight.

It was a statement.

What’s happening in LA isn’t a peaceful protest. It’s a violent uprising.

And the Trump administration, she made clear, has no intention of watching the country burn while the Democrats and the media spin fairy tales.

“President Trump promised to carry out the largest mass deportation campaign in American history,” Leavitt said.

“And left-wing riots will not deter him in that effort.”

Since June 6, over 330 illegal aliens have been arrested during the unrest—113 of them had prior convictions.

Leavitt listed off the heinous crimes of those that have been arrested.

One now faces attempted murder charges for allegedly throwing a Molotov cocktail at police.

These are not harmless demonstrations. They are organized, coordinated, and dangerous.

“Law-abiding American citizens do not want these public safety threats living in their communities,” she said, “no matter what Democrats like Karen Bass and Gavin Newsom may claim.”

And despite the rising attacks on ICE and Border Patrol, Leavitt confirmed the mission will press forward.

“This administration is going to continue the mass deportation effort that the President promised the American public.”

Her message to violent agitators was unflinching:

“Any lawlessness will only strengthen this President’s resolve to defend the majority of Americans.”

That’s when the media tried to shift the story.

Reuters correspondent Nandita Bose floated the idea that Trump’s response to the riots was just a distraction tactic to steer attention away from his public feud with Elon Musk.

It was absurd to say the least.

Leavitt shot back.

“That's an incredibly disingenuous attack.”

She said the president acted after seeing images of Border Patrol and ICE agents being pelted with rocks and Molotov cocktails.

Cars were set ablaze. Foreign flags waved in the streets. That, not politics, triggered the federal response.

“He saw vehicles being burned to the ground with illegal aliens flying foreign flags, and that's what prompted the president to have this response, that has clearly worked.”

Then she went after the state’s top leadership.

She tore them apart.

“I would add that the governor and the mayor need to actually do more,” she said.

“I know Gavin Newsom had a big address to the nation last night—I guess he thought that’s what it was—for his future political ambitions. But he spoke a lot of words. We haven’t seen action.”

“California has been a mess for years because of the incompetence of Gavin Newsom.”

Next came CNN’s Kaitlan Collins, who questioned the use of Marines and National Guard troops on U.S. soil.

Leavitt didn’t blink.

“Our United States Marines and the National Guardsmen and women, who are on the ground right now, are helping to create a peaceful environment for ICE and Border Patrol who were being hailed with rocks, who were being violently and viciously attacked.”

“They needed reinforcements.”

The deployment, she explained, was a necessary move to stabilize the situation so deportations could continue without threat.

Collins questioned the legal grounds for the deployment.

“But he realizes that they can't arrest people unless he invokes the Insurrection Act, which seemingly was not something that was in Secretary Noem’s memo, a clear distinction she did not make there,” she said.

Leavitt was ready and waiting, she let her have it with both barrels.

“Again, you're trying to conflate a letter sent to the Department of Homeland Security to the president's legal authority.”

“The president understands the legal authority he invoked, and that’s the situation right now.”

Collins kept pressing for criteria used to federalize the Guard, but Leavitt dismissed the question.

“The president was asked and answered this yesterday.”

Then she brought the focus back to the lives being disrupted.

“He wants law-abiding Californians to bring their kids to school, to be able to go to work, without seeing this violence in the streets. That’s what the president’s hoping for, and that’s why he’s taken this action.”

Still, the press corps didn’t stop trying to reframe the riots as misunderstood civil unrest.

What came next was brutal.

Jasmine Wright from NOTUS asked what kind of protest the president actually supports.

Leavitt made it clear: “The president absolutely supports peaceful protests. He supports the First Amendment, he supports the right of Americans to make their voices heard.”

But the line is drawn where violence begins.

“He does not support violence of any kind. He does not support assaulting law enforcement officers who are trying to do their job.”

That distinction may be obvious to most Americans, but Leavitt argued that Democrats have blurred the line—allowing chaos to spiral.

Wright pushed again: “If there were peaceful protests Saturday for the military parade, the president would allow that?”

Leavitt didn’t entertain the premise:

“Of course he supports peaceful protest. What a stupid question.”

Savage. Wright looked visibly shaken.

The final exchange exposed just how far some reporters were willing to go to downplay the violence.

As Leavitt recited the dangers that law enforcement officers have had to endure in the riots, a reporter interrupted her.

“So you’re saying the majority have not been peaceful? The majority have been violent.”

Leavitt had hear enough spin.

“I just read for you the arrest numbers,” she said.

“We’ve arrested nearly 400 illegal aliens alone, just illegal aliens that have been arrested in these riots since June 6th.”

The reporter shot back that thousands were in the streets. Leavitt didn’t back down.

“Yeah, and we’ve had HUNDREDS of people who have assaulted law enforcement officers. Are you saying that’s appropriate behavior?”

He backed down, but Leavitt wasn’t finished. Not yet.

“The Democrat governor and the Democrat mayor of Los Angeles have failed their citizens. The majority of Americans, the majority of Californians, do not want to see law enforcement officers being assaulted in the streets.”

And she ended with the clearest message of all:

“Thankfully the president took action and stepped in to protect our law enforcement agents, to protect federal buildings, to protect the federal mission of deporting illegal criminals off of our streets. And that mission will continue every day as far as we’re concerned.”

Karoline Leavitt made sure everyone in that room understood exactly where the line had been drawn.

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