Did Donald Trump deliberately provoke the LA protests?
Americast
BBC
4.2 • 2.8K Ratings
🗓️ 11 June 2025
⏱️ 33 minutes
🧾️ Download transcript
Summary
Sarah and Anthony are joined by Miles Taylor to discuss events in LA and to ask whether the President is deliberately stoking protest for political ends. Miles was the Chief of Staff at the Department of Homeland Security during Donald Trump’s first term but has since become a vocal critic. He talks about President Trump’s ambition to enact similar policies during his first stint in the White House; plans that were ultimately thwarted. With the President now unbound are we seeing the execution of Trump’s original plans for government? And, Miles was the subject of a Trump administration Executive Memo in April which accused him of illegally publishing classified information; disclosing “sensitive information obtained through unauthorized methods” and that his “conduct could properly be characterized as treasonous and as possibly violating the Espionage Act.” He speaks about the impact it has had on him and his career.
HOSTS: * Sarah Smith, North America Editor * Anthony Zurcher, North America Correspondent
GUEST: * Miles Taylor, former chief of staff at the Department for Homeland Security
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This episode was made by Miranda Slade, Alix Pickles and Tom Gillett. The technical producer was Hannah Montgomery. The series producer is Purvee Pattni. The senior news editor is Sam Bonham.
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Transcript
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| 0:00.0 | BBC Sounds, music, radio, podcasts. |
| 0:04.9 | Unprecedented actions, yet again from President Trump, some huge accusations about why he is doing this. |
| 0:11.5 | We're talking about his decision to send the National Guard and a force of Marines to Los Angeles to deal with the protests there. |
| 0:18.9 | The governor of California has said this is a brazen |
| 0:21.6 | abuse of power. It's a threat to democracy. And while it's California now, other states will be next. |
| 0:27.1 | That's his warning about what all of this means. |
| 0:29.6 | When Donald Trump sought blanket authority to commandeer the National Guard, he made that order |
| 0:34.5 | applied to every state in this nation. California may be first, but it clearly will not end here. |
| 0:40.7 | Other states are next. |
| 0:42.4 | Democracy is next. |
| 0:44.4 | Donald Trump on the other side says his actions were entirely necessary to prevent |
| 0:48.5 | anarchy and lawlessness. |
| 0:50.2 | He says there are paid troublemakers on the streets of L.A. |
| 0:53.1 | And that if it wasn't for him, the city would be on fire. |
| 0:56.5 | So, who's right? |
| 0:58.4 | And where does it go from here? |
| 1:00.3 | Welcome to AmeriCast. |
| 1:04.1 | AmeriCast. |
| 1:04.8 | AmeriCast from BBC News. |
| 1:07.2 | You're gambling with the lives of millions of people. |
| 1:09.9 | You're gambling with World War III. |
| 1:12.2 | President Trump's message is very simple. We are done being taken advantage of. |
... |
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