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President Donald Trump said he could legally invoke the Insurrection Act to tackle violent crime in Chicago and urged Illinois Gov. JB Pritzker to "beg for help," intensifying the long-running standoff between the two leaders.
Trump, speaking to reporters aboard Air Force One on his way home from Egypt after wrapping up his Middle East peace tour, was remarking on earlier comments he made about that country's approach to violent crime, saying their apparent success was down to strong leadership. He said U.S. governors in crime-ravaged jurisdictions should follow their lead.
"I want them to be stronger and tougher and not allow us to have record-breaking crime in Chicago and other places. I want them to admit they have a problem," Trump said.
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"There were about 4,000 shootings in Chicago - murders - over a fairly short period of time, maybe a year and a half. Many thousands more were hit by bullets but didn't die. I want [Pritzker] to say, we have a problem," he added, while touting lower crime rates in Washington, D.C., and in Memphis, where he deployed the National Guard.
A reporter then asked if he would invoke the Insurrection Act, given that courts have been blocking certain aspects of his deployment of the National Guard. For instance, a judge ruled on Saturday that National Guard troops sent to Illinois by Trump to combat crime can remain in the state but can't patrol or deploy to protect federal property.
"I could use it if I wanted to. I could use it - that's a very simple answer. I'm allowed to use the Insurrection Act," Trump said.
"In fact, that was on Stephanopoulos today - 'Sloppy' Chris Christie was asked about it. He said, If you're talking about the Insurrection Act, he's got the absolute right to use that."
"He also said 50% of the presidents who've served in office have used the Insurrection Act - and that, according to all of them, it can't even be challenged."
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The Insurrection Act of 1807 gives the president authority to deploy active duty military or federalized National Guard troops inside the country in limited circumstances, such as to suppress civil disorder, rebellion or obstruction of federal law. It has been invoked about 30 times by roughly 10 presidents, most recently by George H. W. Bush during the 1992 Los Angeles riots.
Trump himself threatened to invoke the act in 2020 during the George Floyd protests, but never formally did.
But on Monday, he said he didn't have to "go there yet" because his administration is "winning on appeal."
"You know, we lose with radical-left judges at the lower level, but we're winning on appeal. So we'll see what happens," Trump said.
Asked if he had a message for Pritzker, Trump didn't hold back.
"I think he should beg for help because he's running a bad operation," Trump said. "He's letting people be killed in his city because he doesn't want to deal with Chicago. I love Chicago. Chicago can be a great city again - and very quickly. I'd have Chicago cleaned out, the criminals removed - we would remove them.
"You know, in D.C., we took out 1,700 career criminals - hardline criminals - and that's why it's so good right now. D.C. is setting records the other way; it's never been so safe. Restaurants have never done better - they were closing, now they're opening new ones."
Trump said he could do the same thing on a larger scale in Chicago and that Pritzker should ask him to do it.
"And when you mentioned the Insurrection Act - yeah, I could do that. Many presidents have," Trump said.
"Fifty percent of presidents have used the Insurrection Act, because they don't want to go through this stuff where someone says, 'There's no crime,' when 4,000 people got shot. You know?"
