US Secretary of Homeland Security Kristi Noem declared that the protests in Los Angeles, California, were "professionally orchestrated" and that "protesters are being paid to protest."
"Certainly, these are organized. These are people who are paid to do this. You can track their behavior, the signals they send to each other in these crowds and these protests to incite violence. This is an operation. It's professionally orchestrated. They've done this before, and we're going to stop it and make sure every single one of them is prosecuted," Noem said in an interview with Fox News.
She noted that law enforcement officers pursued "between four and 500 targets" in Los Angeles on Monday, who "were known members of Los Angeles gangs that had been exploiting people for years, and (California Governor) Gavin Newsom did absolutely nothing about them."
She continued: "Today we carried out more operations than the day before, and tomorrow we will double these efforts."
In a related development, Attorney General Pam Bondi criticized the clashes between protesters and law enforcement officials and promised a tough crackdown from the Department of Justice.
Bondi said in an interview on Fox News that the Justice Department has "nine open cases" related to the Los Angeles protests, noting that one of those investigations involves a masked individual who was filmed breaking bricks and throwing shards at law enforcement officers.
She explained that the FBI had identified the man and was searching his home, but she did not disclose his full name.
Bondi added that prosecutors will also file charges against those who assaulted police officers, saying, "If California won't protect its officers, we will."
She added that the Department of Justice is also examining cases typically left to state authorities, including those involving individuals accused of looting stores.
