President Donald Trump was asked by a reporter if he would use the Insurrection Act as a response to the protests, and he responded, "If there's an insurrection, I would certainly invoke it. We will see."

"These are paid insurrectionists, these are paid troublemakers," the president claimed, without evidence.

"If we didn’t get involved" and send the National Guard, "right now Los Angeles would be burning, just like it was burning a number of months ago with all the houses that were lost," Trump said, referencing the January wildfires.

On Sunday, when asked by ABC News if he thought an insurrection was taking place in LA, Trump replied, "No, no. But you have violent people, and we are not going to let them get away with it." But by Sunday night, he was referring to the protesters on his Truth Social platform as "violent, insurrectionist mobs" and "paid insurrectionists."

Asked to define insurrection, Trump said, "You actually really just have to look at the site to see what's happening."

Trump told reporters Tuesday that he called Newsom on Monday.

"Called him up to tell him, 'Gotta do a better job,'" he said.

But Newsom wrote on social media that the president never called.

"There was no call. Not even a voicemail," Newsom wrote. "Americans should be alarmed that a President deploying Marines onto our streets doesn’t even know who he’s talking to."

Mexican President Claudia Sheinbaum is criticizing the U.S. for "criminalizing" migration, noting that Mexican immigrants are largely law abiding and are necessary for the U.S. economy.

"The Government of Mexico reiterates its unwavering commitment to the protection and defense of the human rights of Mexicans abroad, regardless of their immigration status," she said in a statement Tuesday. "We make a respectful but firm call to the U.S. authorities to ensure that all immigration procedures are conducted with adherence to due process within a framework of respect for human dignity and the rule of law."

Sheinbaum also called out the LA protesters who turned to violence and destroyed property.

"The burning of patrol cars seems more like an act of provocation than resistance," she said. "We condemn violence from wherever it may come. We call on the Mexican community to act peacefully and not to fall into provocations."

-ABC News’ Will Gretsky

House Speaker Mike Johnson would not weigh in on whether California Gov. Gavin Newsom should be arrested -- a suggestion made by President Donald Trump -- but said the governor should be "tarred and feathered."

"Look, that's not my lane. I'm not going to give you legal analysis on whether Gavin Newsom should be arrested, but he ought to be tarred and feathered. I’ll say that," Johnson said Tuesday at the weekly GOP news conference. "He's standing in the way of the administration and the carrying out of federal law, right? He is applauding the bad guys and standing in the way of the good guys."

"Do your job, man. That's what I tell Gavin Newsom," Johnson added. "Stop working on your rebranding and be a governor. Stand up for the rule of law."

Newsom clapped back on social media, writing, "Good to know we’re skipping the arrest and going straight for the 1700’s style forms of punishment. A fitting threat given the @GOP want to bring our country back to the 18th Century."

Johnson said Trump's actions sending Marines and National Guardsmen to LA is "full in his authority" to "maintain order."

"President Trump has put his hand on the table and said, 'Not on my watch,' and we applaud that, so we’re standing with him," he said.

"We've got to protect them [federal law enforcement], and federal employees, as well, and federal buildings and property," Johnson said. "We're not going to let violent criminals destroy the property of U.S. taxpayers."

Speaker Emerita Nancy Pelosi on Tuesday blasted Trump sending the National Guardsmen to LA, noting how she urged Trump to send in the guard during the Jan. 6, 2021, insurrection at the Capitol -- when rioters attacked law enforcement and destroyed property -- but the president refused to do so.

-ABC News' Lauren Peller

Bryn MacDonnell, the special assistant to the secretary of defense who serves as the agency's comptroller, testified before the House Appropriations Subcommittee on Defense that the costs for deploying the Marines and National Guard to Los Angeles was an estimated $134 million. "Which is largely just [temporary duty] cost: travel, housing, food, etc.," she explained.

When asked by Rep. Pete Aguilar, D-Calif., for more details and where the money was coming from, MacDonnel said, "their own accounts."br/>