US President Donald Trump has told US troops he was prepared to send “more than the National Guard” into US cities if needed, in the latest demonstration of his willingness to escalate a confrontation with Democratic-led local governments which oppose the deployments.
Trump delivered his remarks on Tuesday aboard the George Washington aircraft carrier, which was docked at the Yokosuka naval base near Tokyo. His speech, which occasionally touched on partisan issues, was interrupted by applause and cheers from the troops several times.
“We have cities that are troubled ... and we’re sending in our National Guard. And if we need more than the National Guard, we’ll send more than the National Guard because we’re going to have safe cities,” Trump said.
Trump since June has deployed National Guard troops to various Democratic-led jurisdictions in an extraordinary expansion of the use of the military for domestic purposes. Trump has sent them to Los Angeles, Memphis and Washington, D.C., and is waging court battles to try to dispatch them to Portland and Chicago.
In Los Angeles, Trump also took the rare step of deploying active duty Marines, although their job was to protect federal agents and federal property and they have since been withdrawn.
Trump has left open the possibility that he might use the centuries-old Insurrection Act to deploy active duty troops for policing purposes and sidestep any court rulings blocking the dispatch of Guard troops into American cities.
Under federal law, National Guard and other military troops are generally prohibited from conducting civilian law enforcement. But the Insurrection Act allows for an exception, giving troops the power to directly police and arrest people.
Since his second term as president began in January, Trump has shown little hesitation in seeking to wield governmental authority against his political opponents, as he pushes to expand the powers of the presidency in ways that have tested the limits of the law.
Last month, in a speech to top military commanders, Trump suggested using US cities as “training grounds” for the armed forces, alarming Democrats and civil liberties groups.
Trump tells US troops he is ready to send ‘more than the National Guard’ into cities
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Trump tells US troops he is ready to send ‘more than the National Guard’ into cities
Ukraine’s Zelensky: We have backed US peace proposals to get a deal done
- “The tactic we chose is for the Americans not to think that we want to continue the war,” Zelensky told The Atlantic
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky said Kyiv had sought to back US peace proposals to end the war with Russia as President Donald Trump seeks to resolve the conflict before November mid-term elections.
Zelensky, in an interview published by The Atlantic on Thursday, said Kyiv was willing to hold both a presidential election and a referendum on a deal, but would not settle for an accord that was detrimental to Ukraine’s interests.
“The tactic we chose is for the Americans not to think that we want to continue the war,” Zelensky told the US-based publication. “That’s why we started supporting their proposals in any format that speeds things along.”
He said Ukraine was “not afraid of anything. Are we ready for elections? We’re ready. Are we ready for a referendum? We’re ready.”
Zelensky has sought to build good relations with Washington since an Oval Office meeting in February 2025 descended into a shouting match with Trump and US Vice President JD Vance.
But he said he had rejected a proposal, reported this week by the Financial Times, to announce the votes on February 24, the fourth anniversary of Russia’s invasion. A ceasefire and proposed US security guarantees against a future invasion had not yet been settled, he said.
“No one is clinging to power,” The Atlantic quoted him as saying. “I am ready for elections. But for that we need security, guarantees of security, a ceasefire.”
And he added: “I don’t think we should put a bad deal up for a referendum.”
Russian President Vladimir Putin has said Zelensky is not a legitimate negotiating partner because he has not faced election since coming to power in 2019.
Zelensky has said in recent weeks that a document on security guarantees for Ukraine is all but ready to be signed.
But, in his remarks, he acknowledged that details remained unresolved, including whether the US would be willing to shoot down incoming missiles over Ukraine if Russia were to violate the peace.
“This hasn’t been fixed yet,” Zelensky said. “We have raised it, and we will continue to raise these questions...We need all of this to be written out.”
