The key facts

  • Trump: 'There will come a moment when I will do it, if I have to'
  • According to him, forces were sent to Memphis and New Orleans after the governor's request
  • Trump said that in Washington there is 'virtually no crime'

Statement on the radio airwaves

US President Donald Trump said on Tuesday, November 3, that he is ready to send federal forces into cities run by Democrats without the consent of local authorities if he deems it necessary. He said this in a phone interview on Dan Bongino's show, answering a question about a possible return of the 'blue city bloodbath', Anadolu reports.

What exactly Trump said

The host asked whether Trump was ready to 'go into those liberal cities even if the mayors do not want to cooperate.' 'There will come a moment when I will do it, if I have to,' the president replied. During the conversation, the host suggested that the election of 'socialist Democrats' and a return to 'defunding the police' policies could mean a repeat of the 'blue city bloodbath.'

Reference to previous deployments

Trump stressed that, as a rule, federal forces should be sent at the request of a governor or mayors, and explained that in Memphis and New Orleans he acted after 'the governor called.' 'We did a great job,' he said. He also called the situation in the capital a success: 'We have virtually no crime in Washington. Washington is a safe place.'

Context

The statement concerns an internal US dispute over the limits of federal intervention in cities where Democrats hold power: Trump signaled his readiness to act without the consent of mayors, even though he himself noted that the previous deployments in Memphis and New Orleans took place at the governor's request. The claims about the results of those operations and about Washington's safety come from the president himself and were not independently verified in the Anadolu publication.