Hello and welcome to the most recent developments in US politics. We begin with the news that a small number of National Guard troops has started protecting federal property in the Chicago area and assisting law enforcement in Memphis on Wednesday, as confirmed by authorities.
Deployment Details
An element of 200 Texas Guard troops were operating in the Chicago area, according to a representative for the US Northern Command, who communicated with the Associated Press on background basis in order to reveal operational details that have not been officially released.
The troops are in the urban area to secure US Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) buildings and other government properties and police officers, Northern Command said online.
The troops, along with about three hundred Illinois personnel, had reached on Tuesday at a US Army Reserve Center in Elwood, approximately 90 kilometers southwest of Chicago. All 500 troops are under the Northern Command and have been activated for two months. The spokesperson wasn't able to quickly provide details about how the troops were armed.
Political Context
It comes as Donald Trump on Wednesday demanded the imprisonment of Brandon Johnson, Chicago's city leader, and JB Pritzker, the Illinois governor, charging them of not protecting US Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) officers.
"Chicago Mayor should be in prison for failing to protect Ice Officers!" Trump wrote on Truth Social on Wednesday morning. "Governor Pritzker also!"
Both Johnson and Pritzker are members of the Democratic party. Trump's comments coincide with national guard troops have begun arriving in the Chicago area at the order of the Trump administration, despite objections from state authorities, including the governor and mayor.
Other Updates
- Donald Trump declared that Hamas and Israel have accepted a tentative deal to end the fighting in Gaza, and free Israeli hostages and detained persons.
- News of the Middle East deal was applauded by GOP legislators, who called on Trump to be given the Nobel Peace prize this week, but received with greater caution by Arab-American communities.
- During presidential gathering, Trump appeared not to recognize the term 'legal principle' and deferred to Kristi Noem. In May, Noem gave a wildly inaccurate definition of the core legal principle that requires that the government provide a official justification for detaining and imprisoning people.
- All of the witnesses who provided statements at the White House "antifa roundtable" hosted by the administration on Wednesday were identified as freelance reporters who might better be called partisan conservative social media influencers. The influencers cover leftwing protests in a highly political manner, more akin to opposition research than nonpartisan reporting.
- GOP senators rejected a military authorization measure that would have limited Trump's authority to use lethal armed action against suspected drug smugglers after opposition party tried to oppose the administration's extraordinary use of the military to destroy boats in the Caribbean.
- During the White House "political discussion" on Wednesday, at least one witness echoed Trump's inaccurate statement that significant amounts of people have been murdered by political extremists in Portland, Oregon. The accurate count of killings by political activists in Portland is: a single incident.
