President Donald Trump joined Fox News’s “Fox & Friends” Friday morning, where he announced that the next U.S. city to see a National Guard presence will be Memphis, Tennessee.
“Maybe I’ll be the first to say it right now again, we’re going to Memphis,” he said. “Memphis is deeply troubled and the mayor is happy, the Democrat mayor, the mayor is happy. And the governor, Tennessee, the governor is happy.”
“Deeply troubled,” Trump continued. “We’re going to fix that just like we did Washington.”
Trump said he would have preferred to have gone to Chicago, but it appears his administration has shifted gears after sharp pushback from Chicago’s mayor and Illinois Gov. JB Pritzker.
While Trump was able to send the National Guard to Los Angeles earlier this year by declaring protests as an emergency and used Washington, D.C.’s Home Rule Act, it’s unclear if he would have a justification for a different city that has no apparent emergency. He likely would have opened up a large legal battle over state rights and federal overreach had he gone into Chicago like originally planned.
However, it appears Trump has the authority to go into Memphis as Tennessee Gov. Bill Lee, a Republican, has authorized the presence.
Lee said he has been in communication with the Trump administration for months about combatting crime in Memphis.
In a statement, Lee said the Tennessee National Guard, the FBI, Tennessee Highway Patrol, the Memphis Police Department and other law enforcement agencies will be included in the “next phase.”
“I’ve been in close contact with the administration throughout the week, and will be speaking with President Trump this afternoon to work out details of the mission,” Lee said. “I’m grateful for the president’s unwavering support and commitment to providing every resource necessary to serve Memphians, and I look forward to working with local officials and law enforcement to continue delivering results.”
However, not everyone is pleased. Memphis Mayor Paul Young, a Democrat who Trump said was “happy” about the decision, held a press conference Friday in response to the announcement.
He was asked if he was actually happy and said Trump’s comment “was an overstatement.”
“I am focused on the resources FBI, DEA, ATF, those are the things that I believe will truly help us be able to support law enforcement and reduce violent crime. I do not support the National Guard,” he said. “However, they are coming, it’s not the mayor’s call. The mayor doesn’t have a say or the authority to stop them, and so my goal is to make sure that as they come, that I have an opportunity to work with them to strategize on how they engage.”