Trump Said in 2020 That He Wouldn’t Deploy National Guard Unless a Governor Asked Him To

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An unearthed clip from 2020 showed President Donald Trump saying he wouldn’t deploy the National Guard unless it was requested by a governor.

At the time of writing, Trump deployed thousands of members of the California National Guard to respond to the protests unfolding in Los Angeles. The protests started when immigration agents were spotted around the city conducting raids. Trump also had hundreds of U.S. Marines sent to the city.

Those deployments left California Gov. Gavin Newsom incensed. The government spoke to Trump on the phone early Saturday morning; and Newsom claimed that Trump never mentioned anything about the National Guard during that call — implying that Trump made the decision without giving him a heads up. Newsom, in response, called the president a “stone-cold liar.” Trump repeatedly claimed he was saving the city by taking it upon himself to deploy the National Guard.

In 2020, however, Trump sang a much different tune. During an interview on ABC News during his first term as president, Trump made it clear that he would only make use of the National Guard if the governor of a given state explicitly requested it. The clip was posted online Monday.

“Look, we have laws,” Trump said. “We have to go by the laws. We can’t move in the National Guard. I can call insurrection, but there’s no reason to ever do that — even in a Portland case. We can’t call in the National Guard unless we’re requested by a governor.”

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