Trump offers active-duty military to quell Minnesota unrest

WASHINGTON — The Trump administration has offered the use of active-duty soldiers and intelligence to assist in quelling unrest in Minnesota, including some forces who were put on alert to deploy, national and state officials said Saturday.

Gov. Tim Walz, a Democrat, acknowledged the offer as he announced that he was mobilizing the entire Minnesota National Guard. He did so after several nights of rioting in response to the death of George Floyd, a black man who was killed in police custody last week in Minneapolis while handcuffed and on video.

Walz downplayed the significance of Pentagon’s offer.

“They’re not talking about mobilizing the entire

United States Army,” Walz said. “We’re probably talking about in the neighborhood of several hundred” soldiers.

The Pentagon’s chief spokesman, Jonathan Rath Hoffman, said in a statement Saturday that Defense Secretary Mark Esper and Army Gen. Mark Milley, the chairman of the Joint Chiefs, had talked to Walz twice in the last day, and “expressed the department’s readiness to provide support to local and state authorities as requested.”

While there is no request from Walz for active-duty forces at this time, the Pentagon has directed U.S. Northern Command “to increase the alert status of several units should they be requested by the Governor to support Minnesota authorities,” Hoffman said.

In Washington, President Donald Trump said that officials in Minnesota need to be tougher. He drew a distinction between the use of active-duty forces and the National Guard.

“We have our military ready, willing and able, if they ever want to call our military,” Trump said. “And we can have troops on the ground very quickly if they ever want our military.”

But Walz appeared set to carry out a plan that includes a significantly beefed-up National Guard presence instead.

Senior Pentagon officials are discussing ways the military might be able to assist in Minnesota that do not require the Insurrection Act, a senior defense official said. The law allows Trump to use federal troops to put down lawlessness.

The official cited crowd control as one example where the active-duty military might have a role.