"I could send the Army, Navy, Air Force, Marines" into any American city

 

Washington — President Trump told reporters Wednesday that he has the authority to send U.S. military forces beyond the National Guard into U.S. cities, claiming not even the courts could stop him, but said that hasn't been necessary so far. 

Speaking to reporters aboard Air Force One during his trip to Asia, the president said he could send the "Army, Navy, Air Force, Marines," and "anybody I wanted" into U.S. cities and would do so "if I thought it was necessary." Earlier in his trip, the president told U.S. troops at the Yokosuka naval base near Tokyo that he was prepared to send "more than the National Guard" into U.S. cities if needed.

Asked whether he meant sending other branches of the military into U.S. cities, Mr. Trump said Wednesday, "You know if I want to enact a certain act, I'm allowed to do it routinely," an apparent reference to the Insurrection Act, which allows the military to act in a law enforcement capacity to suppress a rebellion or quell domestic violence. The authority that has not been invoked by a U.S. president in more than 30 years. 

"And I'd be allowed to do whatever I want," Mr. Trump added. "But we haven't chosen to do that because we're very well — we're doing very well without it. But I'd be allowed to do that, you understand that, and the courts wouldn't get involved, nobody would get involved, and I could send the Army, Navy, Air Force, Marines, I can send anybody I wanted. But I haven't done that because we're doing so well without it."