Vice President JD Vance said on Sunday that President Donald Trump was “looking at all of his options” to deploy the National Guard in major cities, including invoking the Insurrection Act of 1807, which grants the president emergency powers to deploy troops on U.S. soil during major unrest.
In an interview on NBC News’ “Meet the Press,” Vance said Trump “has not felt he needed to” invoke the Insurrection Act “right now,” but he has not ruled it out.
Last week, Trump said he saw the Insurrection Act as “a way to get around” recent court rulings blocking his efforts to deploy the guard to fight crime and put down protests against the government’s crackdown on immigrants in the county illegally.
Generally speaking, the Insurrection Act gives the president the power to send military forces to states to quell widespread public unrest and to support civilian law enforcement agencies. Vance, echoing the president’s arguments, claimed on NBC News that crime was “out of control” in major cities, pointing to violent attacks against immigration officers.
In the interview, Vance also addressed the ceasefire and hostage deal between Israel and Hamas, brokered by Trump, who was traveling to Israel on Sunday to celebrate the breakthrough.
Vance refuted reports that 200 U.S. troops would be sent to the Middle East to monitor the implementation of the ceasefire deal in the Gaza Strip. He said that U.S. Central Command, which has U.S. troops stationed in that part of the world, would “monitor the terms of the ceasefire” and “ensure that the humanitarian aid is flowing.”
But the administration had no plans to deploy additional ground troops in Israel or Gaza, he said. “We’re not planning to have boots on the ground,” he said.
As the ceasefire held for a third day Sunday, Israelis and Palestinians were preparing for an exchange of all living hostages still held in Gaza for about 2,000 Palestinians imprisoned in Israel. Of the 48 hostages that Israel lists as still in Gaza, the government believes that 20 remain alive.
Vance said the living hostages should be released “any moment now” but cast some doubt as to whether the remains of all dead hostages would be able to be returned.
“I think the reality is that some of the hostages we may never get back,” he said, referring to their remains, in an interview on Fox News’ “Sunday Morning Futures.” “But I do think that most of them, with some efforts, we’ll be able to give them to their families, so they at least have some closure.”
In the NBC News interview, Vance also denied that Trump was conducting a retribution campaign against his perceived political enemies, including James Comey, the former FBI director, and New York Attorney General Letitia, who were both recently indicted by the Trump-installed U.S. attorney for the Eastern District of Virginia, Lindsey Halligan.
Trump “having opinions doesn’t mean that we prosecute people unless we have the legal justification to do so,” Vance said.
Ashley Ahn wrote this article that originally appeared in The New York Times. Photos courtesy of Doug Mills.
