‘THE LAW & ORDER’ PREZ
Don threatens to use troops to stop the rioters
President Trump on Monday threatened to invoke a law from 1807 allowing him to deploy military forces to states rocked by unrest over the death of George Floyd in a White House address interrupted by the sounds of troops firing on protesters outside.
“We cannot allow the righteous cries of peaceful protesters to be drowned out by an angry mob,” Trump said, declaring himself the “president of law and order” while blaming professional rioters, anarchists and extremist groups such as Antifa for the mass protests sparked by the death of Floyd in Minneapolis police custody.
“I am mobilizing all available federal resources, civilian and military, to stop rioting and looting, to end the destruction,” he said while threatening to use the Insurrection Act, which allows him to deploy troops across the nation to quell civilian disorder. The law was last invoked during the 1992 Los Angeles riots.
“If a city or state refuses to take the actions that are necessary to defend the life and property of their residents, then I will deploy the United States military and quickly solve the problem for them,” Trump said, although it’s unclear whether the law allows him to do so without a governor’s consent.
Under the Civil War-era Posse Comitatus Act, federal troops are prohibited from performing domestic law-enforcement actions such as making arrests, seizing property or searching people. In extreme cases, however, the president can invoke the Insurrection Act, which allows the use of activeduty or National Guard troops for law enforcement.
The president’s last-minute address was in juxtaposition to the scene outside, where a series of military vehicles rolled out front on Pennsylvania Avenue and military police and law enforcement clashed with protesters at Lafayette Park, firing tear gas, flash bangs, rubber bullets and pepper spray on a large but peaceful crowd.
Trump described the scenes of rioting and looting that have rocked the nation for the past week as a “total disgrace” and said anyone who didn’t respect curfew orders would be “prosecuted to the fullest extent of the law.”
“I am taking these actions today to reaffirm resolve and with a true and passionate love for our country, by far our great days lie ahead,” he said.
Following his address, Trump walked out the front gates of the White House, through Lafayette Park to St. John’s Episcopal Church, which was partially destroyed in a fire lit by rioters Sunday evening.
Trump posed for photos outside the boarded-up church, holding a Bible and flanked by White House staffers where protesters had just been demonstrating.
Earlier, Trump unloaded on governors in a conference call, calling them “weak.”
“You have to dominate. If you don’t dominate, you’re wasting your time. They’re going to run over you, you’re going to look like a bunch of jerks,” he said, according to audio obtained by CNN.
“The harder you are, the tougher you are, the less likely it is that you’re going to be hit,” he said. “It’s happened before, it’s happened numerous times, and the only time it’s successful is when you’re weak, and most of you are weak.”
The Queens-born president also ripped into New York state’s response to the violence and looting, calling it “a disaster.”
“I don’t know what happened to New York’s Finest,” he said, referring to the NYPD. “They need to do their jobs. I don’t know what’s happening in Manhattan, but it’s terrible . . . New York is going to have to toughen up.”