OFFICIAL: TRUMP WANTED 10,000 TROOPS IN D.C.
WASHINGTON — U.S. President Donald Trump told his advisers at one point last week that he wanted 10,000 troops to deploy in D.C. to halt civil unrest over the killing of a black man by Minneapolis police, according to a senior U.S. official.
The account of Trump’s demand during a heated Oval Office conversation June 1 showed how close the president may have come to fulfilling his threat to deploy active-duty troops in U.S. cities, despite opposition from Pentagon leadership.
At the meeting, Defence Secretary Mark Esper, the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, Gen. Mark Milley and Attorney General William Barr recommended against such a deployment, the official said, speaking on condition of anonymity.
The meeting was “contentious,” the official added.
The White House did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
Trump appeared satisfied with deployments by the National Guard, the option recommended by the Pentagon and a more traditional tool for dealing with domestic crises. Pentagon leaders scrambled to call governors with requests to send National Guard forces to Washington. Additional law enforcement was mobilized, too.
But also key for Trump appears to have been Esper’s move to preposition — but not deploy — active-duty soldiers from the 82nd Airborne Division and other units in D.C.
“Having active-duty forces available but not in the city was enough for the president for the time,” the official said.