Donald Trump has refused to rule out invoking the Insurrection Act as court challenges restricted his deployment of National Guard troops to American cities.

The US president is facing a series of legal battles in response to his attempts to deploy soldiers to Democrat-led cities. On Sunday, an Oregon judge blocked the Guard’s deployment to Portland.

Officials in Illinois and Chicago filed a lawsuit against the administration in a bid to stop troops arriving in their state on Tuesday, but failed to halt units already en route.

Speaking in the Oval Office, Mr Trump declined to say whether he was going to invoke the Insurrection Act to overcome the legal challenges, but pointed out that it has been invoked before.

The Insurrection Act, enacted more than two centuries ago, would allow Mr Trump to sidestep court rulings restricting his orders to send Guard troops into cities over the objections of local and state officials.

“Well, it’s been invoked before. As you know, if you look at Chicago, Chicago is a great city where there’s a lot of crime, and if the governor can’t do the job, we’ll do the job,” Mr Trump said.