Trump misleads on presidents’ use of the Insurrection Act and his own ‘unquestioned power’
President Donald Trump says he still has options on the table for sending military into Chicago, where local leaders and courts have so far blocked his efforts to send the National Guard.
“Don’t forget I can use the Insurrection Act. Fifty percent of the presidents, almost, have used that. And that’s unquestioned power,” Trump said during an Oct. 19 Fox News interview. “I choose not to.”
Trump has said if courts rule against his efforts to use a rarely used statute to deploy National Guard troops, he would consider invoking the Insurrection Act, a centuries-old set of laws that allow the president to deploy federal military personnel domestically to suppress rebellion and enforce civilian law.
Insurrection Act invocations aren’t as commonplace as Trump made them out to be.
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