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Trump says he’d consider invoking Insurrection Act as courts, governors seek to block his crime crackdown
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President Donald Trump said he would consider invoking the Insurrection Act to deploy federal troops in U.S. cities after a federal judge blocked his administration from sending National Guard units to Portland.
«I’d do it if it was necessary. So far it hasn’t been necessary. But we have an Insurrection Act for a reason,» Trump told reporters in the Oval Office on Monday.
The 1807 law has not been invoked since the 1992 Los Angeles riots.
«If I had to enact it, I’d do that. 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 mean, I want to make sure that people aren’t killed. We have to make sure that our cities are safe,» he added.
WHAT IS THE INSURRECTION ACT?
U.S. President Donald Trump looks on during a meeting at the 80th session of the UN General Assembly at the United Nations headquarters on Sept. 23, 2025, in New York City. (Chip Somodevilla/Getty Images)
The order allows the president to deploy the military to suppress rebellions and enforce federal laws. If invoked, it would grant Trump the authority to federalize the Guard and deploy active duty forces to restore order. It would temporarily override the Posse Comitatus Act, which normally restricts the use of the military for domestic law enforcement.
«If we don’t have to use it, I wouldn’t use it,» Trump later said on Newsmax, before adding, «If you take a look at what’s been going on in Portland, it’s been going on for a long time, and that’s insurrection. I mean, that’s pure insurrection.»
The comments came after a federal judge on Sunday blocked the Trump administration from deploying California and Texas National Guard troops to Portland’s streets amid protests against Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE).
The same court earlier had denied Trump from deploying Oregon’s own Guard to the city.
«Portland’s been on fire for years — and not so much saving it,» Trump told reporters Monday. «We have to save something else, because I think that’s all insurrection. I really think that’s really criminal insurrection.»
But Judge Karin Immergut, a Trump appointee, said there was no evidence recent protests against ICE made the federalized Guard troops necessary.
About 100 National Guard troops had already arrived in Portland to handle increasingly contentious protests outside an ICE facility, and that deployment had been expected to double by the end of the day before the judge issued her order.
A protester reacts as law enforcement officers deploy smoke grenades to disperse people outside the U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) headquarters in south Portland, Oregon, Oct. 5, 2025. (Carlos Barria/Reuters)
California and Oregon had sued over the deployment.
FEDERAL JUDGE BLOCKS TRUMP’S NATIONAL GUARD DEPLOYMENT TO PORTLAND AMID CONSTITUTIONAL CHALLENGE
White House deputy chief of staff Stephen Miller tore into the judge’s ruling, calling it «one of the most egregious and thunderous violations of constitutional order we have ever seen.»
«There is no legal distinction between a state volunteering guardsmen to guard the border and volunteering guardsmen to guard a federal immigration facility,» Miller said. «Either we have a federal government, a supremacy clause, and a nation, or we don’t.»
A demonstrator in an inflatable Capybara costume stands outside the U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) headquarters in Portland, Ore., Oct. 6, 2025. (Carlos Barria/Reuters)
Trump has also ordered Guard troops from other states to deploy to Chicago and Memphis.
Illinois Gov. JB Pritzker suggested Trump was trying to sow unrest so he could deploy the Insurrection Act at a news conference Monday.
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«The Trump administration is following a playbook: cause chaos, create fear and confusion, make it seem like peaceful protesters are a mob by firing gas pellets and tear gas canisters at them,» Pritzker said. «Why? To create the pretext for invoking the Insurrection Act so that he can send military troops to our city.»
During Trump’s first administration, the White House floated the possibility of invoking the act in response to George Floyd protests, but ultimately did not.
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Some of the top rumored Democratic potential candidates for president in 2028 are showing a united front in opposing U.S. strikes on Iran, with several high-profile figures accusing President Donald Trump of launching an unnecessary and unconstitutional war.
Former Vice President Kamala Harris said Trump was «dragging the United States into a war the American people do not want.»
«Let me be clear: I am opposed to a regime-change war in Iran, and our troops are being put in harm’s way for the sake of Trump’s war of choice,» Harris said in a statement Saturday following the joint U.S. and Israeli strikes throughout Iran.
«This is a dangerous and unnecessary gamble with American lives that also jeopardizes stability in the region and our standing in the world,» she continued. «What we are witnessing is not strength. It is recklessness dressed up as resolve.»
Former Vice President Kamala Harris, Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez and California Gov. Gavin Newsom are seen in separate appearances as leading Democratic 2028 hopefuls spoke out against U.S. strikes on Iran. (Big Event Media/Getty Images for HumanX Conference; REUTERS/Liesa Johannssen; Mario Tama/Getty Images)
California Gov. Gavin Newsom delivered some of his sharpest criticism during a book tour stop Saturday night in San Francisco, accusing Trump of manufacturing a crisis.
«It stems from weakness masquerading as strength,» Newsom said. «He lied to you. So reckless is the only way to describe this.»
«He didn’t describe to the American people what the endgame is here,» Newsom added. «There wasn’t one. He manufactured it.»
Newsom is currently promoting his memoir, «Young Man in a Hurry,» with recent and upcoming stops in South Carolina, New Hampshire and Nevada — three key early voting states in the Democratic presidential calendar.
Earlier in the day, Newsom said Iran’s «corrupt and repressive» regime must never obtain nuclear weapons and that the «leadership of Iran must go.»
«But that does not justify the President of the United States engaging in an illegal, dangerous war that will risk the lives of our American service members and our friends without justification to the American people,» Newsom wrote on X.
California is home to more than half of the roughly 400,000 Iranian immigrants in the United States, including a large community in West Los Angeles often referred to as «Tehrangeles.»
DEMOCRATS BUCK PARTY LEADERS TO DEFEND TRUMP’S ‘DECISIVE ACTION’ ON IRAN
Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, D-N.Y., a leading progressive voice and «Squad» member, accused Trump of dragging Americans into a conflict they did not support.
«The American people are once again dragged into a war they did not want by a president who does not care about the long-term consequences of his actions. This war is unlawful. It is unnecessary. And it will be catastrophic,» Ocasio-Cortez said.
«Just this week, Iran and the United States were negotiating key measures that could have staved off war. The President walked away from these discussions and chose war instead,» she continued.
«In moments of war, our Constitution is unambiguous: Congress authorizes war. The President does not,» she said, pledging to vote «YES on Representatives Ro Khanna and Thomas Massie’s War Powers Resolution.»
Illinois Gov. JB Pritzker criticized the strikes and accused Trump of ignoring Congress. (Daniel Boczarski/Getty Images for Vox Media)
Illinois Gov. JB Pritzker, another Democrat often mentioned as a potential 2028 contender, also criticized the strikes and accused Trump of ignoring Congress.
«No justification, no authorization from Congress, and no clear objective,» Pritzker wrote on X.
«Donald Trump is once again sidestepping the Constitution and once again failing to explain why he’s taking us into another war,» he continued. «Americans asked for affordable housing and health care, not another potentially endless conflict.»
«God protect our troops,» Pritzker added.
Pennsylvania Gov. Josh Shapiro focused his criticism on war powers, arguing Trump acted outside constitutional guardrails.
«In our democracy, the American people — through our elected representatives — decide when our nation goes to war,» Shapiro said, adding that Trump «acted unilaterally — without Congressional approval.»
JONATHAN TURLEY: TRUMP STRIKES IRAN — PRECEDENT AND HISTORY ARE ON HIS SIDE
Pennsylvania Gov. Josh Shapiro focused his criticism on war powers, arguing Trump acted outside constitutional guardrails. (Rachel Wisniewski/Bloomberg via Getty Images)
«Make no mistake, the Iranian regime represses its own people … they must never be allowed to possess nuclear weapons,» he said. «But that does not justify the President of the United States engaging in an illegal, dangerous war.»
Shapiro added that «Congress must use all available power» to prevent further escalation.
Former Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg also accused Trump of launching a «war of choice.»
«The President has launched our nation and our great military into a war of choice, risking American lives and resources, ignoring American law, and endangering our allies and partners,» Buttigieg wrote on X. «This nation learned the hard way that an unnecessary war, with no plan for what comes next, can lead to years of chaos and put America in still greater danger.»
Buttigieg has been hitting early voting states, stopping in New Hampshire and Nevada in recent weeks to campaign for Democrats ahead of the 2026 midterm elections.
Sen. Ruben Gallego, D-Ariz., who has been floated as a rising national figure within the party, said he lost friends in Iraq to an illegal war and opposed the strikes.
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«Young working-class kids should not pay the ultimate price for regime change and a war that hasn’t been explained or justified to the American people. We can support the democracy movement and the Iranian people without sending our troops to die,» Gallego wrote on X.
Fox News’ Daniel Scully and Alex Nitzberg contributed to this report.
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Russian President Vladimir Putin condemned the killing of Iranian Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei on Sunday, calling the death, which came amid strikes from Israel and the U.S. a «cynical violation» of norms.
Putin made the statement in a letter to Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian that the Kremlin released to the public in the wake of Khamenei’s death. Saturday’s bold daytime strikes eliminated Khamenei along with several other top Iranian leaders, including the head of the Iranian Revolutionary Guard Corps.
«Please accept my deep condolences in connection with the murder of the Supreme Leader of the Islamic Republic of Iran, Seyed Ali Khamenei, and members of his family, committed in cynical violation of all norms of human morality and international law,» Putin wrote.
«In our country, Ayatollah Khamenei will be remembered as an outstanding statesman who made a huge personal contribution to the development of friendly Russian-Iranian relations and bringing them to the level of a comprehensive strategic partnership,» Putin continued.
Russian President Vladimir Putin condemned the killing of Iranian Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei. (Kremlin Press Office / Handout/Anadolu via Getty Images)
«I ask you to convey my most sincere sympathy and support to the family and friends of the Supreme Leader, the government and the entire people of Iran,» he added.
Iranian Ambassador to the United Nations Amir-Saeid Iravani condemned the joint U.S.-Israeli strikes that rained down on his country throughout Saturday during a U.N. Security Council meeting.
Iravani accused the U.S. of undermining its claims of pursuing international stability while attacking a sovereign country for its «domestic» activities.
TRUMP TELLS IRANIANS THE ‘HOUR OF YOUR FREEDOM IS AT HAND’ AS US-ISRAEL LAUNCH STRIKES AGAINST IRAN
Demonstrators gather in Basra, Iraq, on Feb. 28, 2026, to protest U.S. and Israeli strikes against Iran. (Haidar Mohammed Ali/Anadolu via Getty Images)
«Neither the charter nor international law recognize internal matters of a state as justification for the use of force by other states. The rule of law would be replaced by the rule of force,» Iravani said.
«Iran will continue to exercise its right of self-defense decisively and without hesitation until the aggression ceases in full and unequivocal terms.»
On Saturday morning, President Donald Trump ordered the execution of Operation Epic Fury, citing Tehran’s continued efforts to develop a nuclear weapon.
HISTORIC US-ISRAEL STRIKES ON IRAN UNDERWAY AS TEHRAN FACES REGIME SURVIVAL TEST
«It has always been the policy of the United States, in particular my administration, that this terrorist regime can never have a nuclear weapon. I’ll say it again. They can never have a nuclear weapon,» Trump said in remarks about the attack Saturday.
Trump said the strikes were meant to «defend the American people by eliminating imminent threats from the Iranian regime» and that they had come after Iran had refused to abandon plans to develop nuclear capabilities.
This map shows the targets of Iran’s retaliatory strikes. (Fox News)
Iravani called the attack a continuation of longstanding U.S. aggression against Iran.
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«Mr. president, this morning the United States regime, jointly and in coordination with the Israeli regime, initiated an unprovoked and premeditated aggression against the Islamic Republic of Iran for the second time in recent months,» Irvani said, referring to strikes the U.S. carried out against its nuclear enrichment sites last year. «The president of the United States and the prime minister of the Israeli regime have openly claimed responsibility for this act of aggression and have explicitly articulated regime change as their objective, an unmistakable admission of their intent to violate Iran’s sovereignty and territorial integrity.»
Fox News’ Leo Briceno and Reuters contributed to this report.
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