The White House on Thursday said President Trump will secure the streets in the country and that the U.S. military is an “absolute last resort backstop” after Mr. Trump threatened to intervene in Seattle amid new unrest on the West Coast.
“The president’s message is that he will secure the streets in this country,” White House press secretary Kayleigh McEnany said on Fox News. “His first preference is always local leaders doing their job, mayors doing their job, governors doing their job, as they’re supposed to do.”
She said Mr. Trump surged U.S. National Guard forces into places such as D.C. and Minneapolis after the recent protests over George Floyd’s killing in Minnesota “and had the military as an absolute last-resort backstop.”
“So he’s emphasizing that tool is always at his disposal, that security is number one,” she said.
“Antifa will be stopped, under the leadership of President Trump, from wreaking havoc and burning down buildings and injuring 750 law enforcement officers and destroying 150 federal buildings,” Ms. McEnany said.
Mr. Trump late Wednesday had said elected officials in Washington state needed to get their act together or he might intervene after protesters have tried to set up an “autonomous zone” in part of Seattle after the city police department vacated one of its precincts.
• David Sherfinski can be reached at dsherfinski@washingtontimes.com.
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