Topline
President Donald Trump said Tuesday major cities should serve as “training grounds of our military”—lamenting what he described as an “invasion from within”— in a speech to top military generals, escalating his threats to deploy troops to San Francisco, Chicago and Los Angeles.
Trump said “we are under invasion from within” that’s “noo different than a foreign enemy, but more difficult in many ways because they don’t wear uniforms,” as he said he wants the military to focus more on domestic security, including tamping down on crime in major cities and illegal immigration.
The president made the comments as he addressed top military generals gathered at Quantico for a last-minute meeting called by Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth (who separately blasted what he described as “fat generals” and an out-of-shape military).
Trump said previous presidents “used the armed forces to keep domestic order and peace,” lamenting “now they say you aren’t allowed to use the military.”
The remarks build on Trump’s deployment of the National Guard to cities including Memphis, Portland and Washington, D.C., in what he says is an effort to reduce crime there.
This is a developing story and will be updated.