Illinois Gov. J.B. Pritzker will hold a news conference Monday in response to reports that President Donald Trump is planning to send the National Guard to Chicago, saying there is “no emergency” that requires Trump to send military deployments to the city.
“Donald Trump is attempting to manufacture a crisis, politicize Americans who serve in uniform, and continue abusing his power to distract from the pain he is causing working families,” Pritzker said in a statement over the weekend. “We will continue to follow the law, stand up for the sovereignty of our state, and protect the people of Illinois.”
Illinois Attorney General Kwame Raoul will also be present at the news conference, which will take place at 3 p.m. in downtown Chicago, according to a press release.
Trump on Friday said he said he plans to send the National Guard to Chicago next as part of his attempts to curb violence in multiple U.S. cities, which began with similar measures taken in Washington D.C.
“To me D.C. is very exciting and a lot of people say, ‘Whoa, where’s he going from there?’ Well, I have calls from politicians begging me to go to Chicago, begging me to go to New York, begging me to go to Los Angeles,” the president told reporters Friday morning.
Chicago mayor has ‘grave concerns’ as Trump threatens to send in National Guard
Then, later from the White House, Trump said he thinks “Chicago will be next.”
Illinois Governor J.B. Pritzker responded to President Donald Trump’s statement regarding plans to send the National Guard to Chicago to curb violence, calling the move an attempt to “manufacture a crisis” and an abuse of power.
“Chicago is a mess. You have an incompetent mayor, grossly incompetent, and we’ll straighten that one out probably next,” Trump said. “That’ll be our next one after this, and it won’t even be tough. And the people in Chicago … are screaming for us to come … so I think Chicago will be our next and then we’ll help with New York.”
The Washington Post reported Saturday that the Pentagon has spent weeks preparing for an operation in Chicago that would include National Guard troops and potentially active-duty forces.
Can Trump send troops to Chicago?
It’s not the first time Trump has mentioned sending the National Guard to Chicago, citing violence.
He previously called out the city and Illinois for its “no cash bail” policy, while decrying “out-of-control crime” in Democratic-led cities like New York, Los Angeles and Chicago. He did not, however, mention Memphis, St. Louis, Birmingham and New Orleans — all cities in red states with the highest murder rates, according to the FBI.
“And if we need to, we’re going to do the same thing in Chicago, which is a disaster. We have a mayor there who’s totally incompetent. He’s an incompetent man. And we have an incompetent governor there. Pritzker’s an incompetent,” President Trump told reporters earlier this month.
A statement from Chicago Mayor Brandon Johnson’s office at the time read, in part, that “if President Trump wants to help make Chicago safer, he can start by releasing the funds for anti-violence programs that have been critical to our work to drive down crime and violence.”
“Sending in the National Guard would only serve to destabilize our city and undermine our public safety efforts,” Johnson said.
But there have been questions over whether Trump can send troops to Chicago.
Brandon Johnson 19 hours agoChicago military deployment would be ‘flagrant violation' of Constitution: Mayor
Illinois Politics Aug 23Pritzker calls Trump's statements on National Guard deployment an abuse of power
Illinois Politics Aug 22Pritzker: Safety of Illinois' people the ‘highest priority' as Trump targets Chicago in crackdown
“It’s clear to me he does not have the legal right or ability to do that. Since I was first elected, I have talked about that, the Nazis in Germany tore down a constitutional republic in just 53 days,” Illinois Gov. J.B. Pritzker, a vocal Trump critic, said earlier this month. “It does not take much, frankly, and we seem to have a president who is hellbent on doing just that.”
The governor said that a law known as the PosseComitatus Act – put into place after the Civil War to ensure the military does not act as police against civilians – precludes the president’s actions.
But the Army said in a previous statement that the president is acting under Title 32, which deals with the role of the National Guard and the ability for governors or the president to call up the guard under certain circumstances.
Meanwhile in D.C., Trump said in a social media post Friday he was considering “a complete and total Federal takeover.” He’s already seized control of the local police department for 30 days, which could be extended with congressional approval.
Trump has claimed the city is in the midst of a crime crisis despite statistics showing a declining problem. The U.S. attorney in Washington has opened an investigation into the numbers, the latest pressure point in a tug of war between the administration and D.C. government.
“Mayor Muriel Bowser must immediately stop giving false and highly inaccurate crime figures, or bad things will happen,” the president wrote.
And it comes as nearly 2,000 National Guard members are stationed in D.C., with the arrival this week of hundreds of troops from several Republican-led states.
The Pentagon and Army said last week that troops would not carry weapons. However, a Defense Department official who was not authorized to speak publicly said some units on certain missions would be armed — some with handguns and others with rifles, according to a report from The Associated Press.
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