Vance says ‘no immediate’ plans to send National Guard to Chicago

Vice President Vance on Wednesday said there are “no immediate” plans to send the National Guard to Chicago in an effort to curb crime after President Trump has flirted with the idea for weeks.

The vice president was asked how many members of the National Guard would be sent to the Windy City and when that would happen and, in response, he called on Illinois Gov. JB Pritzker (D) to ask for help.

“I mean, look, there are no immediate plans but the president has said he has the legal authority to protect American citizens, whether that’s in Chicago or Washington, D.C.,” Vance told reporters on the ground in Minneapolis after visiting the site of last week’s school shooting.

He added, “Obviously, as the president said, we want the governor to be a partner here. We would love it, Democrat or Republican, if we had governors who were willing to actually be partners in cutting down crime and our country, unfortunately, looks like that’s not what we have in JB Pritzker.” 

Vance said he would let the president speak to the issue but out of respect for the families of the victims he visited with on Wednesday, he didn’t want to discuss it further.

Trump earlier on Wednesday said he wants to “straighten out Chicago” but that Pritzker should ask him to send National Guard troops into the city.

Trump’s rhetoric has shifted from more definite tones of sending troops to Chicago to hanging back on the matter. He said on Tuesday when the president said it’s not a matter of if but when he will send troops into the Windy City but he also said he would like governors to ask him to.

Trump sent federal law enforcement to Washington, D.C., weeks ago. But that decision to send the National Guard is protected under the city’s unique Home Rule that gives the president the authority to make the move without local approval. Trump doesn’t have that authority in states and Pritzker has warned the president against deploying the National Guard to Chicago.

Trump also floated the idea of New Orleans, which has a Democratic mayor but a Republican state governor, for the site of the next crime crack down. His move to lean on a Republican-controlled state comes after he has targeted Democratic-run cities like Chicago and Los Angeles for federal law enforcement to step in.