White House: President has ‘Sole Authority’ to Deploy Troops

Defence Secretary Mark Esper said today that he does not support invoking the Insurrection Act, a 19th Century law that allows the federal government to send the military into states.

White House Press Secretary Kayleigh McEnany says Trump may still enact the Insurrection Act “if needed”.

She calls the act “a tool available to the president who has the sole authority” to use it.

So far, the National Guard has been ordered into states and cities at the request of governors and mayors, not the president.

The only place where active-duty US troops have been deployed is to Washington DC.