Mayor Karen Bass Friday called the allegations made by Vice President JD Vance "outright lies" for depicting the city as inciting violent protests and encouraging "illegal migration."
In a Friday news conference at City Hall, Bass said Vance's comments were "lies and utter nonsense" and an attempt to provoke division and conflict in Los Angeles. She added that Vance's messaging was "consistent" with the provocation from Washington that began two weeks ago when U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement operations began on June 6.
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Earlier in the day, Vance held a news conference in which he delivered scathing criticism against Bass and Gov. Gavin Newsom.
"You had people who were doing the simple job of enforcing the law, and they had rioters egged on by the governor and the mayor, making it harder to do their job," Vance said during remarks at a federal facility, flanked by representatives of the FBI, the District Attorney's Office, the U.S. Marines and various other federal officials.
At one point, Vance described the atmosphere in Los Angeles as "open season on federal officers."
Back at City Hall, Bass also criticized Vance for wrongly naming California Sen. Alex Padilla.
"How dare you disrespect him and call him Jose. But I guess he just looked like anybody to you," Bass said. "Well, he's not just anybody to us. He is our senator."
Additionally, the mayor again emphasized that the city was peaceful before the start of ICE operations, which then prompted protests in downtown. Demonstrations remained peaceful, but devolved into vandalism and looting by nightfall.
To address criminal activity, Bass enacted a curfew for about a week. After successfully reducing crimes, she lifted the curfew Tuesday.
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