WASHINGTON, DC – Illinois Attorney General Kwame Raoul is pushing back against the Trump administration’s continued threats to deploy the National Guard to Chicago, a move the AG and Governor of Illinois have said is a clear abuse of Trump’s authority. 

“I think it’s performative. I think that data that you just related is the result of us having great law enforcement leaders in the city of Chicago and the state of Illinois,” AG Raoul said. “My office and other law enforcement agencies throughout the state, is a one team concept, which includes partnership with federal law enforcement agencies who are trained to deal with crime, which the National Guard is not.” 

AG Raoul joined CNN Newsroom and The Lead with Jake Tapper to provide further details on his decision to fight against Trump’s threat.  

Key highlights from CNN Newsroom:  

• “I think it’s performative. I think that data that you just related is the result of us having great law enforcement leaders in the city of Chicago and the state of Illinois… my office and other law enforcement agencies throughout the state, is a one team concept, which includes partnership with federal law enforcement agencies who are trained to deal with crime, which the National Guard is not.”

• “Well, the fact that he’s not embracing the collaboration that you usually do to deploy the National Guard communicating to the governor means that it’s another step towards authoritarianism that he’s operating as a dictator. Turning the military against these American citizens in cities on American land is unprecedented and it’s unheard of.”
• “It’s an offense to the sovereignty of states to where we allow for the primary enforcement of public safety to happen at the local and the state levels for that to be left to the states in collaboration with federal law enforcement.”
• “But the Posse Comitatus Act limits the ability for the president to federalize the National Guard. We don’t have a foreign invasion. We don’t have a rebellion. And so we will use our legal tools to challenge it as has been done in California.” 

Key highlights from The Lead with Jake Tapper: 

• “What I will say is that the president has frequently exceeded his authority. He hasn’t even acknowledged when he was asked on national TV whether he has to follow the Constitution of the United States of America. So he doesn’t have a high regard for our Constitution or our federal law and the notion of him sending the National Guard into the streets against American citizens is another example of such.”

• “What’s being suggested is not federal law enforcement. It’s the federal military. Ever since I became Attorney General, which was during President Trump’s first administration, we have collaborated with federal law enforcement… But the military is not trained to do local law enforcement.”
• “I don’t mind more resources to deal with crime. [But] he has cut community violence interruption resources. Just last week we sued the Department of Justice because they want to condition funding to help victims of crime. That’s inconsistent with an administration that really cares about crime and victims of crime.” 

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