CNN
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A large part of President Donald Trump’s justification for the extraordinary mobilization of the National Guard and Marines in Los Angeles is the idea that violent demonstrators are “paid.”
When asked Tuesday about potentially invoking the Insurrection Act – a step that would spur a much more severe federal crackdown – Trump responded that “these are paid insurrectionists. These are paid troublemakers. They get money.”
Trump added Thursday: “I believe they’re paid. And we’re going to find out through [Attorney General] Pam Bondi and her great staff … who they are.”
He has repeatedly applied that “paid” label to the demonstrators in recent days, and other administration officials and Republicans have begun adopting it, too.
But what evidence do they have for that claim? They haven’t provided much yet.
And it’s worth emphasizing this is a tactic Trump has employed plenty before, often casting huge crowds protesting against him as somehow chock full of paid protesters – in ways that strain credulity.
It’s often the case that these demonstrations bring out people with disparate motivations, and even some with an intent to engage in violence. Los Angeles Police Department Chief Jim McDonnell told CNN’s Kaitlan Collins on Wednesday that the violence at night is largely “black bloc-type protesters” and “anarchists” who have “sophisticated” operations.
But that doesn’t mean groups are paying people to get violent.
Asked Wednesday for more detail on who is allegedly paying violent demonstrators, White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt didn’t cite specific groups and notably mentioned that Trump is using “common sense.”
Leavitt did cite something more specific: people distributing masks and equipment to the demonstrators. The local Fox affiliate in Los Angeles reported this week on video of someone distributing such equipment.
But even that report acknowledged that it wasn’t clear whether those distributing the gear were “part of an activist group, coordinated effort, or acting independently.” And handing out gear isn’t the same as paying people.
Director of National Intelligence Tulsi Gabbard made similar claims Wednesday night on Fox News. She cited “paid protesters” and said, “This thing is being orchestrated obviously in many ways.”
When host Jesse Watters pressed for more details, Gabbard only cited “ads put up on Craigslist offering people thousands of dollars a week to go out and conduct these violent and dangerous riots.”
Trump allies this week have frequently cited a specific Craigslist ad to make similar claims. It sought the “toughest badasses in the city” and offered $6,500 to $12,500 per week.
But as fact checks have noted, the ad actually had nothing to do with to with the protests. It was “bait for a prank show,” AP reported, in which people livestreamed their calls to people who responded to the ad.
Republican Sen. Josh Hawley of Missouri on Wednesday sent letters to specific activist groups he linked to possibly paying violent demonstrators. The letters cited “credible reporting” and suggested the groups could be “bankrolling civil unrest” and possibly “aiding and abetting criminal conduct.” He sought information from the groups, including internal communications.
Hawley, the chairman the Judiciary Committee’s Subcommittee on Crime and Counterterrorism, on Fox News cited “bought and paid for flash mobs” and said, “I want to know who’s doing the buying and the paying.”
Hawley’s office hasn’t responded to a request from CNN about what “credible reporting” he was referring to.
The head of one of the groups, Angelica Salas of the Coalition for Humane Immigrant Rights, told the Los Angeles Times that Hawley is creating distractions.
“It’s very clear they have an agenda against social justice organizations and anybody in any infrastructure that supports the community rights organizations.” Salas said, adding: “This is not normal.”
The conceit from the Trump administration seems to be that this isn’t just a bunch of anarchists organizing themselves or people handing out equipment, but rather nefarious and more established left-wing groups fomenting unrest and even paying people to engage in it.
There just doesn’t seem to be much or any evidence that’s actually happening right now. The fact that Leavitt cited “common sense” rather than hard proof would seem instructive.
So why is Trump so insistent on this point?
Much of it seems to be part of his demonstrated efforts to exaggerate the violence in Los Angeles. As CNN’s Stephen Collinson wrote Wednesday, if you pitch this as a struggle against organized groups fomenting violence, it becomes easier to justify a more heavy-handed federal response.
It’s also part of an effort to make opposition to Trump’s actions look less organic.
Trump has trotted out this argument over the years, often without evidence and in ways that weren’t ultimately proven.
After his 2016 election, he claimed those who came out to protest him were paid, despite the huge numbers of people involved. He did the same thing early in his first administration. He claimed those who protested Brett Kavanaugh’s Supreme Court nomination were “paid protesters.” And he claimed earlier this year that those protesting Republicans at town halls were “paid troublemakers.”
After the attack on the US Capitol on January 6, 2021, Trump and his allies essentially suggested those who engaged in violence were provoked by others – including FBI agents – in an effort to undermine Trump. There remains no real evidence for this.
More conspiratorial Trump allies will often run with such claims and link the supposedly paid protesters to shadowy left-wing groups and figures like George Soros.
In pictures: Protests in LA after immigration raids
Some involved in the protest response are starting to address such claims.
McDonnell in the interview with Collins took care to separate the more violent and organized “black bloc-type” elements at night from peaceful protesters who are focused on protesting Trump’s immigration raids.
California Attorney General Rob Bonta, a Democrat, made similar comments Tuesday on CNN.
“Of course, we often see those who see this as an opportunity to agitate and get involved in criminal activity,” Bonta said, adding: “But peaceful protesters organically rising up to share their thoughts and call out injustice and demand something different or better is a core part of our constitutional democracy. These are not paid protesters.”
Sen. Adam Schiff told Collins on Tuesday that Trump’s rhetoric is another example of the president making things up “out of whole cloth, making the craziest allegations” and forcing others to account for them.
“But it’s also quite traditional Trump,” the California Democrat said. “And that is: He wants to justify the unjustifiable. He wants to create chaos.”
