Vice President JD Vance said on Sunday President Trump was “looking at all of his options” to deploy the National Guard in major cities, including invoking the Insurrection Act of 1807, which grants the president emergency powers to deploy troops on U.S. soil during major unrest.
In an interview on NBC News’ “Meet the Press,” Mr. Vance said Mr. Trump “has not felt he needed to” invoke the Insurrection Act “right now,” but he has not ruled it out.
Last week, Mr. Trump said he saw the Insurrection Act as “a way to get around” recent court rulings blocking his efforts to deploy the guard to fight crime and put down protests against the government’s crackdown on undocumented immigrants.
Generally speaking, the Insurrection Act gives the president the power to send military forces to states to quell widespread public unrest and to support civilian law enforcement agencies. Mr. Vance, echoing the president’s arguments, claimed on NBC News that crime was “out of control” in major cities, pointing to violent attacks against immigration officers.
In the interview, Mr. Vance also addressed the cease-fire and hostage deal between Israel and Hamas, brokered by Mr. Trump, who was scheduled to travel to Israel on Sunday to celebrate the breakthrough.
The vice president refuted reports that 200 American troops would be sent to the Middle East to monitor the implementation of the cease-fire deal in Gaza.He said that the U.S. Central Command, which already has American troops stationed in that part of the world, would “monitor the terms of the cease-fire” and “ensure that the humanitarian aid is flowing.”
But the administration had no plans to deploy additional ground troops in Israel or Gaza, he said. “We’re not planning to have boots on the ground,” he said.
As the cease-fire held for a third day on Sunday, Israelis and Palestinians were preparing on Sunday for an exchange of all of the living hostages still held in Gaza for about 2,000 Palestinians imprisoned in Israel. Of the 48 hostages the Israel lists as still in Gaza, the government believes that 20 remain alive.
Mr. Vance said the living hostages should be released “any moment now” but cast some doubt as to whether the remains of all dead hostages would be able to be returned.
“I think the reality is that some of the hostages we may never get back,” he said, referring to their remains, in an interview on Fox News’ “Sunday Morning Futures.” “But I do think that most of them, with some efforts, we’ll be able to give them to their families, so they at least have some closure.”
In the NBC News interview, Mr. Vance also denied that Mr. Trump was conducting a retribution campaign against his perceived political enemies, including James B. Comey, the former F.B.I. director, and Attorney General Letitia James of New York, who were both recently indicted by the Trump-installed U.S. attorney for the Eastern District of Virginia, Lindsey Halligan.
Mr. Trump “having opinions doesn’t mean that we prosecute people unless we have the legal justification to do so,” Mr. Vance said.
Ashley Ahn covers breaking news for The Times from New York.
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