Fox News halted as Donald Trump blasts 'bulls**t' in furious rant live on air

At a White House news conference held on Monday, Donald Trump hit out at California governor Gavin Newsom while taking questions from reporters at a press briefing. It comes as the pair are set to face off to determine whether the president violated a 147-year-old law when he deployed the National Guard to quell protests over immigration raids in Los Angeles - against the wishes of the Democratic governor. Fox News briefly halted their broadcast to go directly to the White House where Trump sparked a war of words with the governor in a humiliating blow.

In June, hundreds of of people gathered in Los Angeles to protest a string of immigration raids that targeted workplaces and left dozens of people detained or deported. Trump invoked a rarely used law that allows the president to federalise the National Guard during times of actual or threatened rebellion or invasion, or when regular forces can't enforce US laws. Newsom filed a lawsuit on June 9 against Trump and Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth, saying they violated the Posse Comitatus Act and the 10th Amendment.

Speaking to reporters, Trump fumed: "Gavin Newscum is incompetent. He's got a good line of bulls**t but that's about it. He's incompetent."

Taking to Instagram, the governor urged Trump to call his "lapdogs off".

Newsom wrote: "Donald Trump: It's time to call Greg Abbott and tell him to stand down. You are not 'entitled' to 5 congressional seats.

If you do not call your lapdogs off, California will act quickly and swiftly. We will go to the ballot. We will neutralize whatever gains you make. We will not stand by while you light Democracy on fire."

Newsom's lawyers say the deployment of the National Guard to Los Angeles was a violation of the act since it bars "the military from engaging in civil law enforcement unless explicitly authorized by law," according to the complaint.

But Trump's lawyers insist the National Guard and Marines didn't engage in any civil law enforcement - and therefore didn't violate the act.