Trump says Chicago mayor, Illinois governor should be jailed

WASHINGTON— Chicago is emerging as the latest testing ground for President Trump’s domestic deployment of military force, as hundreds of National Guard troops are expected to descend on the city.

Illinois Governor JB Pritzker and Chicago Mayor Brandon Johnson, the president said Wednesday. should be jailed He went on to paint a dark and violent picture of Chicago and Portland, Oregon, where Trump has tried to send federal troops but has so far been blocked by the courts because he does not support federal agents.

“The situation is very bad,” Trump said at the White House on Wednesday. “It’s so crazy. It’s like those movies with bombed cities and bombed people. It’s worse than that. I don’t think they could make a movie that bad.”

Pritzker this week called Trump’s portrayal of Chicago “unbalanced” and unrealistic. The governor said federal agents were making the community “less safe,” noting that residents did not want “Donald Trump to invade their communities” and that people of color feared being profiled during the crackdown on immigrants.

Trump has opposed Democrats fighting their own efforts in Illinois and Oregon and has said twice this week that he is willing to use that authority. Sedition Act 1807 if local leaders and courts try to stop him. White House Deputy Chief of Staff Stephen Miller also suggested this week that a court order blocking Trump’s deployment to Portland amounted to a “legal insurrection” as well as “an insurrection against the laws and the Constitution of the United States.”

Miller was asked about his remarks in a televised interview Monday and whether the administration would comply with court orders halting the deployment of troops to Illinois and Portland. Miller replied saying that the president has “general assembly authority” before pausing mid-sentence — a moment when the presenter suggests there might be a technical problem.

“General assembly authority” is a legal term indicating that someone has unlimited authority.

The legality of the deployments to Portland and Chicago will be examined in two federal courts on Thursday.

The 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals will hear the Trump administration’s appeal in the Portland matter. Trump-appointed judge Karin Immergut found that the White House not only violated the law by mobilizing the Oregon National Guard, but further defied the law by trying to overturn his order and sending in the California National Guard instead.

The three-judge appellate panel consists of two Trump appointees and one Clinton appointee.

Meanwhile, in Illinois, U.S. District Judge April Perry on Monday refused to block the emergency deployment of National Guard members, allowing the force buildup to continue. It will hear arguments on the legality of the operation on Thursday.

California Gov. Gavin Newsom, one of Trump’s biggest political foes, has joined the fight against the president’s impeachment efforts.

The Trump administration sent 14 soldiers from the California National Guard to Illinois to train troops from other states, according to court records filed Tuesday. Federal officials also told California they plan to extend the process of federalizing 300 people from Trump’s state Guard into next year.

“Trump is embarking on a nationwide crusade to sow chaos and division,” Newsom said Wednesday. “His and his Cabinet’s actions are contrary to our deeply held American values. He must stop this illegal charade immediately.”

There was little sign of the presence of National Guard troops on the streets of Chicago Wednesday evening. But troops from other states, including the Texas National Guard On Tuesday, I was waiting on the sidelines at the Army Reserve Center in Illinois.

In anticipation of the mandate, Pritzker warned that if the president’s efforts went unchecked, it would put the United States “on the path to full-blown authoritarianism.”

The Democratic governor also said the president’s calls to jail him were “unreasonable” and that Trump was a “wannabe dictator.”

“There’s something I really want to say to Donald Trump: If you come for my people, you come through me. So come and get me.” Pritzker said in an interview with MSNBC.

As tensions rise in Chicago Trump hosted an event at the White House Addressing how he plans to take down Antifa, the obscure left-wing anti-fascist movement that he recently designated as a domestic terrorist organization.

At the event, the president said most of the people joining the movement were active in Chicago and Portland, and he again attacked local and state leaders in both cities and states.

“You can definitely say about Portland and Chicago, what they’re doing is illegal,” Trump said of the left-wing protests. “They will have to be very careful.”

Johnson, the mayor of Chicago, criticized Trump for saying he should be jailed for his actions.

“This isn’t the first time Trump has tried to have a black man wrongfully arrested,” Johnson said on social media. “I’m not going anywhere.”

Pritzker continued to attack Trump’s efforts into the evening, accusing the president of “violating the Constitution and breaking the law.”

“We must stand up together and raise our voices,” the governor said on social media.

Times writer Melody Gutierrez in Sacramento contributed to this report.