President Trump announced Friday he plans to deploy the National Guard and other federal resources to Memphis, Tenn., as part of a crackdown on crime.
“We’re going to Memphis. Memphis is deeply troubled,” Trump said on “Fox & Friends.”
“And the mayor is happy. He’s a Democrat mayor. The mayor is happy. And the governor, Tennessee, the governor is happy,” Trump added.
Trump said he would deploy the “National Guard and anybody else we need. And by the way, we’ll bring in the military too, if we need it.”
Watch:
Memphis Mayor Paul Young (D) had said Thursday that he was informed earlier in the week that Trump and Gov. Bill Lee (R) were considering deploying the National Guard in the city.
“I am committed to working to ensure any efforts strengthen our community and build on our progress,” Young said in a statement to WMCA in Memphis.
Trump said he “would have preferred” sending federal law enforcement into Chicago but city and state officials there had aggressively pushed back, raising the prospect of a drawn-out legal battle over a National Guard deployment.
The president last month surged federal law enforcement and deployed the National Guard across Washington, D.C.
