The White House reportedly wanted to deploy 10,000 active duty soldiers onto the streets of Washington, D.C. to quash George Floyd protesters earlier this week.
A senior defense official told NBC on Saturday that President Trump requested the large number of troops during a ‘contentious’ Oval Office meeting with Secretary of Defense Mark Esper on Monday.
The anonymous official told the news network that Esper instead tried to steer Trump away ‘from a buildup of federal forces’ by pushing for governors from several states to send their National Guard members to the nation’s capital.
That same day, Trump appeared for a press conference in the White House Rose Garden where he threatened to invoke the 1807 Insurrection Act – which allows the President of the United States to deploy US military within its own borders to suppress civil disorder and rebellion.
In the days prior, some peaceful protests calling for police reform and an end to system racism had turned violent in the nation’s capital with instances of looting, arson and destruction.
Esper did eventually airlift 1,600 active duty troops to bases in the D.C. region ‘to respond if needed’.
The White House reportedly wanted to deploy 10,000 active duty soldiers onto the streets of Washington, D.C. to quell George Floyd protesters earlier this week. Members of the National Guard were sent from various states instead
Esper did eventually airlift 1,600 active duty troops to bases in the D.C. region ‘to respond if needed’. However, but that time 5,000 National Guard members already were already in the city and did not require any assistance. National Guardsmen are seen at the Lincoln Memorial on Tuesday
Thousands of people have been packing into D.C. streets over the past two weeks calling for police reform and end to systemic racism following the death of George Floyd
However, by that time 5,000 National Guard troops already were already in the city and did not require any assistance.
On Thursday, hundreds of combat soldiers with the 82nd Airborne were ordered to leave the D.C. region after only a few days there. Instances of violence and looting had dropped dramatically, and Trump had been widely rebuked for threats to deploy the military.
According to another anonymous official, the nation’s top military officer, General Mark Milley, got into a ‘shouting match’ with Trump after the president spoke of his wish to end the country’s protests by bringing in active military forces.
The official told The New Yorker that Gen. Milley is said to have stayed firm, responding: ‘I’m not doing that. That’s for law enforcement.’
It’s unclear whether that incident took place in the same White House meeting on Monday where Trump told Esper that he wanted 10,000 troops.
According to another anonymous official, the nation’s top military officer, General Mark Milley, got into a ‘shouting match’ with Trump after the president spoke of his wish to end the country’s protests by bringing in active military forces
On Thursday, Milley publicly rebuked Trump over his proposal to use deploy US armed forces to their own streets, by sending a letter to top military leaders that said the military will continue to protect Americans’ right to ‘freedom of speech and peaceful assembly
On Thursday, Milley publicly rebuked Trump over his proposal to deploy US armed forces in the country’s own streets, sending a letter to top military leaders that said the military will continue to protect Americans’ right to ‘freedom of speech and peaceful assembly.
‘As members of the Joint Force – comprised of all races, colors, and creeds – you embody the ideals of our Constitution,’ Milley wrote.
‘Please remind all of your troops and leaders that we will uphold the values of our nation, and operate consistent with national laws and out own high standards of conduct at all times,’ he further stated.
‘We all committed our lives to the idea that is America,’ Milley hand-wrote in as an addition to the bottom of the letter.
‘We will stay true to that and the American people.’
A National Guard soldier keeps watch at the Lincoln Memorial as thousands of peaceful demonstrators were met with a huge military presence Wednesday following a week of tenses clashes in the capital
Meanwhile, former defense secretary James Mattis also hit out at Trump by publishing scalding op-ed denouncing the president’s leadership in the face of widespread protests across the country.
In a piece published on Wednesday, Mattis spoke out for the first time publicly since he was fired by Trump in 2018, blasting the commander-in-chief for threatening to deploy the military.
‘We must reject any thinking of our cities as a ‘battlespace’ that our uniformed military is called upon to ‘dominate’, he wrote.
‘At home, we should use our military only when requested to do so, on very rare occasions, by state governors. Militarizing our response, as we witnessed in Washington, D.C., sets up a conflict -a false conflict -between the military and civilian society.
‘It erodes the moral ground that ensures a trusted bond between men and women in uniform and the society they are sworn to protect, and of which they themselves are a part. Keeping public order rests with civilian state and local leaders who best understand their communities and are answerable to them,’ Mattis wrote.
Demonstrators protest Thursday near the White House over the death of George Floyd
Demonstrators hold signs as they walk down Capitol Hill during a protest on Saturday