Trump Says Insurrection Act Is ‘Strongest Power a President Has’

President Donald Trump on Oct. 19 provided more details on the possibility of invoking the Insurrection Act because of rampant crime in U.S. cities, saying it is the “strongest power a president has” and noting that numerous presidents have used it throughout history.

“We want to have great crime-free cities,” Trump told reporters on Air Force One. “So, I’d be allowed to use, if I wanted, the Insurrection Act, and then all of this nonsense would go away. You have the absolute right. It’s the strongest power a president has, and you have the absolute right to do it.”

Trump also noted on Oct. 19 that a number of U.S. presidents have invoked the act, which was signed into law in 1807 by President Thomas Jefferson. The law allows a president to deploy the U.S. military and federalize state National Guard members to suppress insurrections against the United States.

“Don’t forget, and I haven’t used it, but don’t forget: I can use the Insurrection Act,” he told Fox News’s Maria Bartiromo. “Fifty percent of the presidents, almost, have used that. And that’s unquestioned power. I choose not to.”

Throughout U.S. history, the Insurrection Act has been invoked 30 times, many times to suppress riots and civil unrest, according to a list kept by the Brennan Center for Justice. At least 16 out of 45 presidents have invoked the Insurrection Act, although its usage has dropped since the latter half of the 20th century.

The last time it was used was by President George H.W. Bush, who invoked it during the deadly 1992 Los Angeles riots. Bush also invoked the law three years before in the U.S. Virgin Islands to suppress looting and lawlessness after Hurricane Hugo hit the island territory.

Earlier in October, Trump raised the possibility of using the law during remarks to reporters in the White House. It came after a federal judge blocked the president from deploying members of the National Guard to Portland, Oregon. Trump said the city had effectively been taken over by left-wing domestic terrorist groups.

The president has made reducing crime and the mass deportations of illegal immigrants a priority for his second term. Troops and more federal agents have been sent to a number of cities, including Washington; Memphis, Tennessee; Los Angeles; Chicago; Portland; and others.

“If I had to enact it, I’d do that,” Trump said on Oct. 6. “If people were being killed and courts were holding us up, or governors or mayors were holding us up, sure I’d do that. I want to make sure people aren’t killed. We have to make sure our cities are safe.”

In response to Trump’s decision to send in troops, Portland Mayor Keith Wilson said the move was not needed.

“Our nation has a long memory for acts of oppression, and the president will not find lawlessness or violence here unless he plans to perpetrate it,” he said in late September. “Imagine if the federal government sent hundreds of engineers, or teachers, or outreach workers to Portland, instead of a short, expensive, and fruitless show of force.”

Trump said in remarks last week that he is considering sending National Guard members to San Francisco in a bid to keep crime down after he said that some local officials told him to do so.