Protests live updates: Marines make 1st temporary detention in LA

The National Guardsmen on active duty in Los Angeles are carrying weapons but don’t have rounds in the chamber, and they aren’t using rubber bullets or pepper spray, according to a U.S. official.

The Rules of Force that they are operating under call for them to de-escalate any incidents as much as possible, two U.S. officials said. They also have the right to self-defense.

The Marines and the National Guard personnel receiving orders to deploy to LA will operate under similar rules of force, according to two U.S. officials. That means they're tasked with protecting federal buildings and federal personnel only; they won't patrol streets, try to engage people or detain rioters on behalf of police, the officials said.

These Marines and guard personnel aren't using rubber bullets or pepper spray either, but they will carry ammunition as part of their uniforms that can be used in the rare case of self-defense, the officials said.

U.S. Northern Command confirmed Monday it has activated the approximately 700 Marines to join some 2,100 National Guard soldiers in what it is referring to as Task Force 51.

Task Force 51 forces are protecting federal personnel and property and "have been trained in de-escalation, crowd control, and standing rules for the use of force," it said.

-ABC News' Luis Martinez and Anne Flaherty

President Donald Trump is defending his decision to send the National Guard into Los Angeles and said California Gov. Gavin Newsom should be "happy."

"He should only be happy I sent in the military, because if I didn't send them and you would’ve had a problem, they're the likes of which we haven't seen in a long time," Trump said at a roundtable Monday.

Trump implied that the situation in LA is improving.

"It's lucky for the people in Los Angeles and in California that we did what we did. We got it just in time," Trump said. "It's still simmering a little bit, but not very much."

In 2020, Trump said at an ABC News town hall that "we can't call in the National Guard" to cities "unless we're requested by a governor."

Trump’s comments came after he sought to respond to racial justice demonstrations in cities in the summer of 2020.

"I can call insurrection but there's no reason to ever do that," Trump said at the time.

On Monday, when asked by ABC News what’s changed since 2020, Trump said that the National Guard shouldn't be sent in without approval from local officials but the difference is that California has an "incompetent governor."

"He's destroying one of our great states. And if I didn't get involved, if we didn't bring the guard -- and we would bring more in if we needed it -- because we have to make sure there's going to be law and order," Trump said.

-ABC News’ Michelle Stoddart, Ben Siegel and Karen Travers

Seven-hundred Marines in California have been ordered to assist in Los Angeles and they’re expected to arrive over the next 24 hours, a U.S. official confirmed.

The Marines are from the 2nd Battalion, 7th Marines at Twentynine Palms, California, whom U.S. Northern Command had said Sunday were on a "prepared to deploy status" if the Defense Department needed them.

Minutes before the Marines' deployment was confirmed, President Donald Trump was asked by ABC News if he planned on sending Marines to LA, and he said, "We’ll see what happens."

"I mean, I think we have it very well under control," Trump said. "I think it would have been a very bad situation. It was heading in the wrong direction. It's now heading in the right direction."

-ABC News' Luis Martinez and Karen Travers

President Donald Trump wrote on Truth Social that if protesters spit in the faces of National Guardsmen in Los Angeles, they'll "be hit harder than they have ever been hit before."

"IF THEY SPIT, WE WILL HIT," Trump wrote. "Such disrespect will not be tolerated!"

"The Insurrectionists have a tendency to spit in the face of the National Guardsmen/women, and others. These Patriots are told to accept this, it’s just the way life runs. But not in the Trump Administration," Trump said.

California Gov. Gavin Newsom said in response to Trump's post, "You sent your troops here without fuel, food, water or a place to sleep."

The guardsmen are "forced to sleep on the floor, piled on top of one another," Newsom wrote on social media. "If anyone is treating our troops disrespectfully, it is you @realDonaldTrump."

-ABC News’ Michelle Stoddart