The Trump administration will be charging rioters and looters involved in the anti-ICE riots in Los Angeles under the Hobbs Act, as Attorney General Pam Bondi revealed.
https://googleads.g.doubleclick.net/pagead/ads?npa=1&client=ca-pub-9229289037503472&output=html&h=280&adk=2736325427&adf=369911754&w=640&abgtt=6&fwrn=4&fwrnh=100&lmt=1749677394&num_ads=1&rafmt=1&armr=3&sem=mc&pwprc=4447812914&ad_type=text_image&format=640×280&url=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.breitbart.com%2Fpolitics%2F2025%2F06%2F11%2Ftrump-administration-to-charge-rioters-looters-under-the-hobbs-act%2F&fwr=0&pra=3&rh=160&rw=640&rpe=1&resp_fmts=3&wgl=1&fa=27&uach=WyJXaW5kb3dzIiwiMTkuMC4wIiwieDg2IiwiIiwiMTM3LjAuNzE1MS4xMDMiLG51bGwsMCxudWxsLCI2NCIsW1siR29vZ2xlIENocm9tZSIsIjEzNy4wLjcxNTEuMTAzIl0sWyJDaHJvbWl1bSIsIjEzNy4wLjcxNTEuMTAzIl0sWyJOb3QvQSlCcmFuZCIsIjI0LjAuMC4wIl1dLDBd&dt=1749677528254&bpp=1&bdt=307&idt=1&shv=r20250610&mjsv=m202506050101&ptt=9&saldr=aa&abxe=1&cookie=ID%3D37d00adc98e707c7%3AT%3D1749579166%3ART%3D1749677498%3AS%3DALNI_MYpdCYJS–vMeud34obnlLiBmtuaA&gpic=UID%3D0000112920482171%3AT%3D1749579166%3ART%3D1749677498%3AS%3DALNI_MbqhkTZzhQA3tCdneRCp18XEU7HKw&eo_id_str=ID%3Daadf43d861b01dc8%3AT%3D1749579166%3ART%3D1749677498%3AS%3DAA-AfjZmhOdrcxzIvXyc1pW_eTBM&prev_fmts=0x0&nras=2&correlator=8099326891382&frm=20&pv=1&u_tz=-240&u_his=50&u_h=864&u_w=1536&u_ah=816&u_aw=1536&u_cd=24&u_sd=1.125&dmc=8&adx=360&ady=1083&biw=1690&bih=772&scr_x=0&scr_y=0&eid=31092920%2C95353386%2C95362655%2C95362801%2C95359265%2C95362806%2C95363075&oid=2&pvsid=1476633096607171&tmod=614392212&uas=0&nvt=1&ref=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.breitbart.com%2F&fc=1408&brdim=0%2C0%2C0%2C0%2C1536%2C0%2C1536%2C816%2C1707%2C772&vis=1&rsz=%7C%7Cs%7C&abl=NS&fu=128&bc=31&bz=0.9&td=1&tdf=2&psd=W251bGwsbnVsbCxudWxsLDNd&nt=1&ifi=2&uci=a!2&btvi=1&fsb=1&dtd=17471
Bondi criticized California Gov. Gavin Newsom (D), stating that if he wasn’t “going to keep California safe,” the Trump administration would. Bondi continued to point out that Los Angeles had imposed a curfew on Tuesday night, adding that it “helped a bit.”
“We’ve been seeing on the news, all of these drug stores getting robbed, getting looted. The Apple store just got raided, I mean, we’re all watching this live on the news. And, this isn’t just —looting to me, you think people just run in, take something, leave, and nothing happens,” Bondi explained. “We’re using the Hobbs Act, we are charging robbery to protect Californians under this. If you loot [a] store, we are going to charge you with robbery under the Hobbs Act, and you’re looking at maximum 20 years in prison.”
Per the Department of Justice (DOJ) website, the Hobbs Act “prohibits actual or attempted robbery to extortion affecting interstate or foreign commerce ‘in any way or degree.’”
The Hobbs Act Prohibits actual or attempted robbery or extortion affecting interstate or foreign commerce “in any way or degree.” Section 1951 also proscribes conspiracy to commit robbery or extortion without reference to the conspiracy statute at 18 U.S.C. § 371. The statutory prohibition of “physical violence to any person or property in furtherance of a plan or purpose to do anything in violation of this section” is confined to violence for the purpose of committing robbery or extortion. United States v. Franks, 511 F.2d 25, 31 (6th Cir. 1975) (rejecting the view that the statute proscribes all physical violence obstructing, delaying, or affecting commerce as contrasted with violence designed to culminate in robbery or extortion.
Bondi also revealed that the administration wanted California to “declare an economic disaster,” so that Small Business Administration (SBA) Administrator Kelly Loeffler “could have come in and helped given federal aid” to businesses that have been affected by the riots.
“We wanted them to declare — they didn’t declare an economic disaster out there with all of the businesses,” Bondi shared. “Had they done that, Kelly Loeffler and the Small Business Association could have come in and helped, given federal aid to all these businesses in California.”
Breitbart News previously reported that Loeffler called for Newsom to “request a disaster declaration” with SBA, so SBA could provide “emergency assistance” to the small businesses that have been affected by the Los Angeles riots.
“The migrant mob has looted stores, destroyed storefronts, and committed criminal acts of vandalism against our small businesses,” Loeffler said in a statement. “Although local leaders are allowing Los Angeles to burn, federal partners are ready to help American citizens rebuild – and we will do so, as soon as the Governor answers their call for help.”
