Congressional Dems look to block Trump from expanding National Guard push

The top Democrat on the House Judiciary Committee urged President Donald Trump on Tuesday to end his federal takeover of Washington, D.C., joining members of a coalition of lawyers and other grassroots organizers to reject his declaration of a crime-based “national emergency” in the nation’s capital, as well as Trump’s more recent suggestions that he will deploy National Guard troops to other Democrat-run cities in the U.S.

Speaking to reporters Tuesday with other members of the Not Above the Law Coalition, Rep. Jamie Raskin, D-Md., rejected Trump’s claim that the level of crime in the nation’s capital necessitates his use of the D.C. Home Rule Act. That 1973 law allows a sitting president to temporarily take control of the city’s police department during a period of national emergency.

Raskin last month introduced House Joint Resolution 115, which would end Trump’s declaration of a crime-based national emergency in the nation’s capital, and would also limit presidents’ authority to take over D.C.’s police force.

Raskin’s remarks were shared Tuesday during a press call with the Not Above Law coalition, a group of 150 organizations including grassroots organizers, nonprofits, advocacy groups, legal scholars and others with the stated goal of protecting democracy and “defending the rule of law.”

Speakers on Tuesday took aim at Trump’s federalization push and efforts to expand it beyond D.C. They also cited the new ruling from a federal judge in California, who ruled shortly before remarks kicked off, that Trump’s decision in June to deploy U.S Marines and National Guard troops to California violated federal law.

Trump “is escalating an authoritarian-style takeover of our city,” Lisa Gilbert, the co-chair of Not Above the Law Coalition, said Tuesday of the president’s actions in D.C. Last month, Trump declared a national crime emergency and activated the D.C. Home Rule Act to temporarily take control of the city’s police force.

The president has since threatened to deploy the guard to other cities, including Chicago, despite opposition from Illinois Gov. JB Pritzker (D).

White House spokeswoman Abigail Jackson accused Raskin of “siding with dangerous criminals” in a statement to Fox News Digital. She said Raskin should “listen to a fellow Democrat — Mayor Bowser recently celebrated President Trump’s actions in DC and highlighted the tremendous drop in crime as a result of the President’s intervention.”

“Raskin’s comments are driven purely by Trump Derangement Syndrome, because anyone who cared about the safety of American communities would look at the outstanding results in DC and want to replicate it nationwide,” Jackson added.

In introducing H.J.R. 115, lawmakers are saying, “One, there’s no emergency.” Raskin said.

“Second, even if there had been an emergency, there’s no power that the president has within the statute to take over the police department. There’s only the power to direct the mayor to make the requisite number of police available for a particular federal purpose,” he said.

“Congress gave the District of Columbia expansive Home Rule powers in 1973, and Congress should stand up for what this prior Congress did,” Raskin added. “And that means we should rescind this fraudulent emergency and make sure that the mayor has the power to run the police department.”

Raskin’s remarks came shortly after a federal judge in California ruled on Tuesday that Trump’s decision to deploy thousands of National Guard troops and several hundred U.S. Marines in Los Angeles in June violated the Posse Comitatus Act, or the 19th century law that prohibits the use of soldiers from engaging in domestic law enforcement activity.

U.S. District Judge Charles Breyer said in his ruling that the evidence at trial “established that Defendants systematically used armed soldiers (whose identity was often obscured by protective armor) and military vehicles to set up protective perimeters and traffic blockades, engage in crowd control, and otherwise demonstrate a military presence in and around Los Angeles.”

Norm Eisen, a lawyer and former White House ethics czar during the Obama administration, also joined the call on Tuesday to take aim at what he described as the “hostile occupation” of D.C.

He cited Breyer’s ruling as evidence that Trump’s threats to expand the federalization push to other Democrat-led cities, including Chicago, are illegal.

“If you read the [ruling from] Judge Breyer, you’ll see that it’s based on extensive fact finding — including the most damning admissions of all that what Donald Trump did in Los Angeles, [what he is] doing in D.C., and is threatening to do in Chicago — is a violation of the United States military’s own rules of engagement, guidelines, practices and rules and regulations, and he enjoined them,” Eisen said.

And while Eisen acknowledged on Tuesday’s call that the exact “contours” in D.C. are slightly different from Los Angeles, he still took aim at what he described as the administration’s “pattern of illegality.”

“The concept that is captured in the Posse Comitatus — that is being transgressed and trampled in the District of Columbia every day — is that it is very dangerous in a democracy to have our military get involved in policing unarmed civilians,” Eisen added.

In a recent statement, President Trump defended his decision to issue an executive order to temporarily federalize Washington D.C., citing the need to “reestablish law and order” in what he described as one of the most dangerous cities in the world. However, critics have raised concerns about the implications of such a move, warning that it could pave the way to authoritarianism.

“This is the path to authoritarianism, and it has been for millennia,” said one political analyst, highlighting the dangers of concentrating power in the hands of the federal government. The move to federalize D.C. raises questions about the erosion of local governance and the potential for abuse of power.

While Trump has framed the executive order as a necessary measure to address public safety concerns, some have pointed out that it sets a troubling precedent. The temporary federalization of D.C. could set the stage for further encroachments on civil liberties and democratic norms.

As the debate over the executive order continues, it is clear that the issue of federalization is a complex and contentious one. It remains to be seen how this move will impact the balance of power between the federal government and local authorities, and what it could mean for the future of democracy in the United States.

This article was written by Breanne Deppisch, a national politics reporter for Fox News Digital, focusing on the Trump administration and national news.