Los Angeles Police Chief Jim McDonnell sharply countered President Donald Trump’s claims that the city was at a point of needing National Guard support, emphasizing Wednesday that protests were “nowhere near” that level.
McDonnell’s remarks come after Trump cited the police chief as validating the White House’s decision to send in troops to address largely peaceful immigration enforcement protests.
“If we weren’t there, if we didn’t bring in the National Guard and the Marines, you would probably have a city that was burning to the ground,” Trump baselessly stated while attending a performance of Les Misérables at the Kennedy Center Wednesday evening. “You would have had a big problem there, if we weren’t – in fact, the police chief said so much if you look at what his statements were. He said we’re very lucky to have had them.”
When asked by CNN’s Kaitlan Collins if Trump had correctly described his position, McDonnell disputed the president’s statements.
“No, we were not in a position to request the National Guard,” he said. “We’re nowhere near a level where we would be reaching out to the governor for National Guard at this stage. And my hope is that things are going in the right direction now and that we wouldn’t have had to have done that, or we won’t either.”
