White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt freaked out when pressed over President Donald Trump’s attempts to send troops into multiple U.S. cities.
Her tantrum came as Democratic leaders have been sounding the alarm over the president’s multiple attempts to use the military to fight crime.
During her press briefing on Monday, a reporter pressed Leavitt on whether Democrats do “not have reason to be concerned” that there are long-term plans by the administration to keep the military in American cities.
“Why should they be concerned about the federal government offering help to make their cities a safer place?” she snapped. “They should be concerned about this. They should be concerned about the fact that people in their cities right now are being gunned down every single night.”
Her blowup followed a federal judge’s decision to temporarily block the Trump administration from sending the National Guard into Portland, Oregon.
On Monday, Illinois and Chicago sued the Trump administration over its attempts to deploy troops there, as well.
But the White House did not take kindly to being grilled about Democrats’ concerns that the president is attempting to impose martial law.
Leavitt insisted the president was trying to fix the problems and complained that Trump was instead being hit with a smear campaign by Democrats and the media.
“You guys are framing this like the president wants to take over the American cities with the military,” she said. “The president wants to help these local leaders who have been completely ineffective in securing their own cities.”
Her comments were similar to those made by Trump, 79, who has often complained that local and state leaders should really be thanking him.
Leavitt did not specifically address whether the Trump administration was making plans to deploy troops long-term.
The president’s actions targeting Illinois, Oregon, and California have been met with harsh criticism from state leaders who have pushed back on his efforts to send in the military.
“We must now start calling this what it is: Trump’s Invasion,” wrote Illinois Governor JB Pritzker on Sunday of the president ordering 400 Texas National Guard members to his state and elsewhere.
“It started with federal agents, it will soon include deploying federalized members of the Illinois National Guard against our wishes, and it will now involve sending in another state’s military troops,” he added.
Oregon Governor Tina Kotek also blasted the Trump administration’s actions. She said there was no need for military intervention in her state.
“There’s no insurrection in Portland. There’s no threat to national security,” she said on Sunday. “Oregon is our home. It is not a military target.”
She said it is the right of Americans to peacefully protest unlawful actions by the Trump administration and called the deployment unnecessary, unlawful, and warned it made the city less safe.
The Trump administration’s efforts are the latest in a series, following its initial deployment of the National Guard to Washington, DC, over the summer.
Members of the military remain on the ground in DC, where they’ve been patrolling the streets but are also removing trash and helping with landscaping.
Leavitt insisted the president just wanted to “make American cities safe again.”
“I don’t think there’s anything wrong with that,” she declared.
However, U.S. Judge Karin Immergut, a Trump appointee, said there has been no evidence that it was necessary to federalize the troops to respond to recent protests when she temporarily blocked the deployment of the National Guard to Oregon.
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