An old video from 2020 of Donald Trump is doing the rounds, in which he is seen saying that he can’t call in the National Guard “unless we’re requested by a governor.” Five years later, the clip from his first term as president has resurfaced amid rising tensions between Trump and California Democrats over his administration’s deployment of 2,000 National Guard members to the Los Angeles area in a bid to rein in pro-immigration protesters.
In an interview with ABC, Trump said, “I have restored law and order. Except in Democrat-run cities. We have to go by the laws. We can’t move in the National Guard. I can call insurrection, but there’s no reason to ever do that, even in a Portland case. We can’t call in the National Guard unless we’re requested by the governor.”
In response to Trump’s extraordinary move to deploy forces in Los Angeles, California Governor Gavin Newsom on Monday stated that he would sue the US President for ordering a crackdown on pro-immigration protesters while overlooking federal laws.
