Cities Still Suffering,Trump Offers Help, New York's AG Threatens to Sue If Administration Sends Troops To Quell Riots

By Sarah Lee | 7:00 PM on June 04, 2020

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AP featured image — Police face off with activists during a protest march in the Bedford-Stuyvesant section of the Brooklyn borough of New York on Sunday, May 31, 2020. Demonstrators took to the streets of the city to protest the death of George Floyd, who died May 25 after he was pinned at the neck by a Minneapolis police officer. (AP Photo/Kevin Hagen)

There’s a very good reason the New York Times risked the outrage of its millennial staff when it published GOP Sen. Tom Cotton’s op-ed, “Send in the Troops,” in which the good Senator from Arkansas suggests the Insurrection Act might be in order to help cities that are still on fire from rioting and looting. It’s because New York looks like a war zone and its leadership, Gov. Andrew Cuomo and Mayor Bill De Blasio, are engaged in petty bickering while Nero fiddles.

There have been decidedly differing (and probably political) opinions on sending federal troops to help New York and other cities that still need the extra firepower. Secretary of Defense Mark Esper has gone on record saying he can’t support using active duty troops to stop the protesting, and has reportedly not won any accolades from the White House for his opinions. Former Secretary of Defense James Mattis was even harsher in his language in a public statement saying the president was actively trying to divide the country and alleged that troops used to squash rioting would be violating the Constitutional rights of protesters.

And in the event that the Trump administration is still confused that there’s a political pushback on his desire to help using the very legal deployment of troops, the New York Attorney General has outright threatened to sue.

New York Attorney General Letitia James has threatened to sue President Trump for mobilizing military forces to states to quell riots and looting that have broken out across the country in the wake of George Floyd’s death.

“The President of the United States is not a dictator, and President Trump does not and will not dominate New York state,” James said in a statement Monday, shortly after Trump invoked the Insurrection Act of 1807, which could allow him to deploy troops anywhere across the nation. “In fact, the president does not have the right to unilaterally deploy U.S. military across American states.”

Promising to “guard the right to peaceful protest,” James said her office would look at any federal action “with an eye toward protecting our state’s right.”

“Rest assured: We will not hesitate to go to court to protect our constitutional rights during this time and well into the future,” she said.

In New York Wednesday, a police officer assigned to guard against looting in Brooklyn was stabbed in the neck and two other officers were shot and are recovering. The head of NYPD union was quoted Tuesday on Fox News expressing a desire to see federal personnel in the city. “NYPD is losing the city of New York and we have no leadership in the city of New York right now, from City Hall to the brass of the NYPD,” New York Sergeants Benevolent Association President Ed Mullins told Laura Ingraham.