Vehement reactions from the Democratic camp, after Donald Trump's statement about sending troops to Chicago. Pentagon has already made initial planning
Donald Trump. Photo credit: CNP / ADM / Capital Pictures / Profimedia
US President Donald Trump does not have the authority to conduct troops in Chicago, Illinois governor, JB Pritzker, and the leader of the Democratic Minority of US representatives, Hakeem Jeffries, according to CNN and BBC said on Sunday. The Pentagon has already carried out initial planning for a possible development, notes Reuters.
Donald Trump, who, according to the BBC, has already run about 2,000 troops at Washington DC, said he would probably expand his crime fighting efforts, thus intervening in another city run by Democrats. On Sunday, he also spoke about the possibility of conducting troops in Baltimore, where the current administration is also democrat.
American officials, speaking for Reuters under the condition of anonymity, said that in Pentagon there was an initial planning on how a possible conduct of the National Guard in Chicago could show.
One of them said that the plans are part of the army's efforts to anticipate any requests from Trump and mentioned that the Pentagon's high officials have not yet been informed about them. It is not unusual for the Pentagon to plan potential forces before official order is issued.
Democrats criticize Trump's initiative
The Hakeem Jeffries Congress has supported the statement of the Democratic Governor in Illinois, JB Pritzker, according to which the Trump administration has no “authority” to send troops there.
“We should continue to support local law enforcement and simply do not allow Donald Trump to play with the lives of the American people as part of his effort to make a crisis and create a distraction just because he is deeply unpopular,” Jeffries told CNN.
There is no emergency to justify the sending of the National Guard to Illinois, and the US president “tries to make a crisis,” said JB Pritzker governor, accusing Trump of abuse of power.
Neither Chicago Democrat, Brandon Johnson, disagree with Trump's initiative, saying that a federal intervention would only cancel local efforts that, he claims, have significantly reduced serious crimes.
Trump claims the measure is meant to combat crime
The US president suggested to reporters that he considered sending soldiers from the National Guard to Chicago, after ordering the sending of troops to Washington DC and Los Angeles earlier this year, a measure that the administration is now forced to defend in court.
“We will make our cities very, very safe. Chicago is a chaos,” said Donald Trump. He added that Chicago “will be our next goal after that and it will not even be difficult.”
Later, Trump mentioned New York and Chicago as cities in which they would like the national guard to “help”, writes Polito.
Also, the White House leader praised the activity of the National Guard in Washington and mentioned that he is willing to “bring the regular army” to support his crime reduction campaign.
