SAN FRANCISCO (KGO) — President Donald Trump is now doubling down on sending National Guard troops to San Francisco, saying he has the “unquestioned power” to do it.
President Trump made those comments in a Fox News interview Sunday.
“We’re gonna go to San Francisco,” Trump said. “The difference is I think they want us in San Francisco. San Francisco was truly one of the great cities of the world, and then 15 years ago it went wrong, it went woke…But we’re gonna go to San Francisco and we’re gonna make it great. We’re gonna make it great. It’ll be great again. San Francisco is a great city. It won’t be great if it keeps going like this.”
“Don’t forget I can use the Insurrection Act. 50% of the presidents almost have used that,” Trump also said in the interview.
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Trump’s latest push comes after San Francisco Mayor Daniel Lurie this past week highlighted crime at historic lows in the city.
Erwin Chemerinsky, constitutional law expert and Dean of Berkeley Law, spoke with ABC7 News about the president’s comments.
He said it’s illegal for the president to use troops for domestic law enforcement citing the Posse Comitatus Act which was adopted in 1878. He pointed to three federal court judges finding that the use of the troops for domestic law enforcement was impermissible. Those rulings were with regard to L.A., Portland and Chicago.
Now the question is going to the Supreme Court as Trump asks the high court to okay the use of troops in Chicago.
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“My hope is that the United States Supreme Court will come to the same conclusion, and we have to expect that President Trump will comply with the court order because every president in history has done so,” Chemerinsky said. “On the other hand, what President Trump is doing and using the troops and so much else, is unprecedented in American history.”
California Governor Gavin Newsom responded Sunday on social media, saying, “Fact check: Nobody wants you here. You will ruin one of America’s greatest cities.”
Other local leaders, including San Francisco DA Brooke Jenkins have also spoken out against the National Guard being deployed to the city.
Jenkins said last week that she won’t hesitate to press charges against federal troops if they break laws while stationed here.
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