Newsom tries to stop National Guard from intervening in LA riots, used them to bolster COVID testing

California Democratic Gov. Gavin Newsom has requested a judge intervene in President Donald Trump's decision to deploy his state's National Guard to Los Angeles amid violent protests over Immigration and Customs Enforcement raids, but used Guard members to bolster COVID-19 testing in 2022. 

He used the members to help set up thousands of testing sites and distribute millions of testing kits in communities throughout the state amid a second wave of COVID infections – known as the Omicron variant.

“We continue to support communities in their response to COVID by bolstering testing capacity," Newsom said. "These measures will bolster California’s already robust testing program – the most extensive in the nation."

Newsom's actions came roughly two years after the Trump administration set up Operation Warp Speed, which was a public–private partnership to develop and distribute COVID-19 vaccines at a fast rate.

Under Warp Speed, the National Guard was ordered to deploy personnel to support vaccine distribution at hospitals and clinics. 

"In addition to deploying 62,000 military service members in direct support of fighting COVID-19 on front lines around the globe, the Department of Defense is racing towards a vaccine," said then-Defense Secretary Mark T. Esper in 2020.

The Justice Department on Wednesday called Newsom's attempt to stop Trump from deploying the guard to Los Angeles a “crass political stunt endangering American lives” in a court filing.

“Courts did not interfere when President Eisenhower deployed the military to protect school desegregation," the DOJ wrote in its brief. "Courts did not interfere when President Nixon deployed the military to deliver the mail in the midst of a postal strike. And courts should not interfere here either."

A court hearing is set to begin Thursday regarding Trump sending the National Guard and Marines to Los Angeles.