Trump gives blunt response to Newsom daring Homan to arrest him: 'I would'

"He's daring Tom Homan to come and arrest him. Should he do it?" Doocy asked.

"I would do it I were Tom," Trump responded. "I think it's great. Gavin likes the publicity. But I do think it would be a great thing.  He's done a terrible job. I like Gavin Newsom. He's a nice guy, but he's grossly incompetent. Everybody knows."

Trump went on to state his belief that many of the rioters and protesters in Los Angeles are professional agitators rather than real protesters.

"The people that are causing the problem are professional agitators. They're insurrectionists. They're bad people. They should be in jail," Trump said.

"The President of the United States just called for the arrest of a sitting Governor," Newsom wrote. "This is a day I hoped I would never see in America. I don't care if you're a Democrat or a Republican this is a line we cannot cross as a nation - this is an unmistakable step toward authoritarianism."

Homan told "Fox & Friends" earlier on Monday that he had told an NBC reporter that "no one's above the law," but there was no discussion about arresting Newsom at that time.

"Then the reporter asked me, well, could Governor Newsom or Mayor Bass be arrested? I said, 'Well, no one's above the law. If they cross the line and commit a crime, absolutely they can,' so there was no discussion about arresting Newsom."

Trump deployed 2,000 National Guard troops to the city in an effort to quell some of the unrest, much to the dismay of Democratic officials. 

Fox News' Taylor Penley and Stephen Sorace contributed to this report.