Trump Threatens to Invoke the Insurrection Act Against American Cities
President Donald Trump Would Invoke The Insurrection Act 'If It Was Necessary'
President Donald Trump is escalating a threat to involve the U.S. military in American cities, using a law that hasn't been activated in more three decades.
47 brought up the idea of invoking the Insurrection Act while speaking to reporters at the White House on Monday, and he claimed he'd go through with the invocation "if it was necessary," according to NBC News.
FYI ... the Insurrection Act of 1807 enables the president to deploy the military and federalize state National Guard forces in certain circumstances.
The last time the Insurrection Act was invoked was back in 1992, during the Los Angeles riots. Before that, it was used in a civil rights dispute in in 1957 in Arkansas, and prior to that, during the American Civil War and the subsequent Jim Crow Era.
Trump made his comments just a day after a federal judge in Oregon blocked his administration from sending troops from the California and Texas National Guards to Portland ... that happened a day after the same judge denied his attempt federalize the state's own Oregon National Guard to be deployed in that city.
Trump was vague Monday about when he would supposedly invoke the act, claiming he'd pull the trigger if "people were being killed" and various officials were "holding us up."
Trump also claimed Portland had been "on fire for years" and alleged what was happening in the city was "pure insurrection" ... the city's mayor and the state governor have pointed out the city has been peaceful, and protests have been limited to a one-block area around a federal ICE detention center on the edge of the city ... some observers have speculated Trump is reacting to images of 2020 riots in the city.