Trump says National Guard is at the ready but hedges on Chicago plans
President Trump said Monday that the U.S. military is ready to go to any city to crack down on crime — even if the governor does not request its assistance.
Trump signed an executive order at the White House to create a specialized National Guard unit that could be deployed to assist local law enforcement in Washington, D.C., and potentially around the U.S. “in quelling civil disturbances and ensuring the public safety and order whenever the circumstances necessitate.”
“We want to go from here to other places. But I was, I was telling some of the people that in a certain way, you really want to be asked to go. You know, I hate to barge in on a city and then be treated horribly by corrupt politicians and bad politicians,” Trump said while signing several executive orders.
Last week, Trump suggested his administration could target Chicago next for a federal crackdown against crime.
But when pressed on Monday, he hedged, saying he may or may not send in federal troops to Chicago.
“I didn’t get a request from the governor,” Trump said. “Illinois is affected maybe more than anybody else. And I think until I get that request from that guy, I’m not going to do anything about it.”
Earlier on Monday morning, Chicago Mayor Brandon Johnson, a Democrat, told NPR’s Morning Edition that such a move would be “illegal and costly.”
“The city of Chicago is not calling for American troops to occupy American cities,” Johnson said. “It’s not democratic. It’s unconstitutional.”
Johnson said his office has not heard about a potential deployment directly from the White House.
Nancy Guthrie search enters its second week as a purported deadline looms
"This is very valuable to us, and we will pay," Savannah Guthrie said in a new video message, seeking to communicate with people who say they're holding her mother.
Immigration courts fast-track hearings for Somali asylum claims
Their lawyers fear the notices are merely the first step toward the removal without due process of Somali asylum applicants in the country.
Ilia Malinin’s Olympic backflip made history. But he’s not the first to do it
U.S. figure skating phenom Ilia Malinin did a backflip in his Olympic debut, and another the next day. The controversial move was banned from competition for decades until 2024.
‘Dizzy’ author recounts a decade of being marooned by chronic illness
Rachel Weaver worked for the Forest Service in Alaska where she scaled towering trees to study nature. But in 2006, she woke up and felt like she was being spun in a hurricane. Her memoir is Dizzy.
Bad Bunny makes Puerto Rico the home team in a vivid Super Bowl halftime show
The star filled his set with hits and familiar images from home, but also expanded his lens to make an argument about the place of Puerto Rico within a larger American context.
Japan’s Takaichi to pursue conservative agenda after election landslide
Japan's first female Prime Minister, Sanae Takaichi, brought the ruling Liberal Democratic Party its biggest-ever electoral victory, fueling her ambitions to pursue to a political agenda which she says could "split public opinion."
