Trump criticizes California, defends National Guard deployment to LA

Trump says LA is 'so badly run'

During his first appearance in a week, President Donald Trump made comments about LA.

WASHINGTON (KTTV) - President Donald J. Trump criticized California during his first public appearance in over a week Tuesday afternoon.

What we know:

Earlier in the day, a federal judge ruled that the Trump administration’s decision to send National Guard troops to Los Angeles during immigration raids was illegal.

"I applaud the court for today’s important ruling. The White House tried to invade the second-largest city in the country. That’s illegal. Los Angeles will not buckle and we will not break. We will not be divided and we will not be defeated," LA Mayor Karen Bass said in response.

The president has since expressed a desire to send troops to help combat crime in Chicago, saying, "Chicago is a hellhole right now," during Tuesday’s briefing. Trump also said Illinois Gov. J.B. Pritzker and California Gov. Gavin Newsom "would probably be the two worst and most naive" governors in the nation.

"Either they’re naive or they’re very untruthful," Trump said.

What did Trump say about Los Angeles?

Trump did not hold back about how he feels about the Southern California city, saying, "It’s so badly run," and that his administration "cleaned up Los Angeles."

"I watched Newsom get up and say he’s doing a great [job]. He’s not. We’re the ones who did it. And that’s okay. Whatever it takes."

He doubled down on his decision to send the National Guard to LA, intertwining that with announcing the new location for the headquarters of the U.S. Space Command.

"If I didn’t send the National Guard into Los Angeles, I would be making an announcement today. I’d be talking about Huntsville, and I’d simultaneously be saying, by the way, the Olympics are not coming to Los Angeles."

"If we didn’t do that, it would’ve been a very sad day. And remember, we have the Olympics, we have the World Cup, we have all these things coming," Trump said.