Several top Democratic officials are facing backlash for making wildly inaccurate statements about the violent anti-ICE demonstrations that have consumed Los Angeles for nearly a week. Their attempts to deny or minimize the destruction stand in sharp contrast to eyewitness accounts, video footage, and law enforcement reports documenting widespread looting, arson, and violent clashes with police.
At a Capitol Hill press conference on Tuesday, Rep. Maxine Waters (D-Calif.) boldly declared that there was “no violence” taking place in Los Angeles. Her remarks came as she sharply criticized President Trump’s decision to deploy thousands of National Guard troops and hundreds of Marines to restore order in the city.
“Nobody was shot, nobody was killed, get it into your head,” the congresswoman told reporters without flinching.
“Don’t think that somehow because they called out the National Guard there was violence. There was no violence. I was on the street, I know,” she said, doubling down.
“And I went from downtown detention back out into the community. What happened in Paramount, what happened in Compton, what happened in Inglewood: Get it straight, and don’t just rely on what you’re being told or the few incidents you saw,” she added, in a stunning denial of the on-the-ground reality.
Meanwhile, actual reports from the ground told a very different story. Violent acts have been mounting across the city, with numerous attacks against police and journalists alike.
On Sunday, a photographer for the New York Post was shot in the head with a rubber bullet while covering the riots. Reporters from Australia and The New York Times were also hit by projectiles during the unrest.
Police found a deceased man near the site of downtown looting early Tuesday morning, though authorities have yet to confirm whether his death is directly related to the riots.
Paramount and Compton have emerged as two of the hardest-hit areas since Immigration and Customs Enforcement began conducting enforcement operations that sparked the protests.
In Paramount, protesters pelted riot police with rocks and Molotov cocktails, prompting officers to respond with rubber bullets, tear gas, and pepper spray.
In nearby Compton, surveillance footage showed mobs of masked individuals smashing their way into a convenience store, tearing through shelves and stealing merchandise. Some were seen ripping out the credit card machines and stuffing them into bags.
The mayhem reached the 101 Freeway on Sunday, where around 2,000 demonstrators halted traffic. Authorities temporarily reopened the highway, only to shut it down again after rioters hurled objects—including electric scooters—at moving police vehicles.
Since the violence began, law enforcement has made nearly 60 arrests. The Department of Justice has pledged to investigate and prosecute those responsible for assaults on federal officers and destruction of property.
Despite the overwhelming evidence of violence, Waters’ version of events mirrored the talking points being pushed by other Democrats and left-leaning media. While at least five officers have been injured, many public figures continued to characterize the protests as largely peaceful.
Sen. Alex Padilla (D-Calif.) told MSNBC, “the vast majority of protesters and demonstrators are peaceful,” while describing those who ignited fires and defaced property as simply “passionate.”
Sen. Cory Booker (D-N.J.) also deflected blame from the rioters and instead pointed the finger at President Trump. “A lot of these peaceful protests are being generated because the president of the United States is sowing chaos,” he said on NBC’s “Meet the Press.”
But not all Democrats were willing to toe the party line. Sen. John Fetterman (D-Pa.), known for breaking with progressive orthodoxy, posted a blunt assessment on social media Monday night.
“I unapologetically stand for free speech, peaceful demonstrations, and immigration—but this is not that,” Fetterman wrote on X.
“This is anarchy and true chaos. My party loses the moral high ground when we refuse to condemn setting cars on fire, destroying buildings, and assaulting law enforcement.”
Mainstream outlets were widely criticized for echoing misleading narratives. CNN, infamous for describing the 2020 riots as “fiery, but mostly peaceful,” again downplayed the violence in Los Angeles by calling the riots “lawful protests” with “some unrest.”
KABC’s Jory Rand offered an especially absurd take while broadcasting live footage of a car engulfed in flames, casually describing the scene as “just a bunch of people having fun watching cars burn,” and suggesting that bringing in police “could turn very volatile.”
Media outlets such as Axios and The New York Times appeared eager to minimize the scale of destruction, dismissing the chaos as limited to “a small part of the city”—a characterization many found stunningly out of touch with reality.

{Matzav.com}