Trump meets with Tennessee’s governor after saying he’d deploy National Guard troops to Memphis

WASHINGTON (AP) — President Donald Trump is hosting Tennessee Gov. Bill Lee in the Oval Office on Monday after suggesting that he’s ready to send the National Guard into Memphis to help combat crime.

Lee’s visit follows Trump saying on Friday that, “Memphis is deeply troubled” and adding, “We’re going to fix that just like we did Washington.” Speaking on Fox News Channel, Trump said “the mayor is happy” and “the governor is happy” about the pending deployment.

Shortly before the meeting with Lee began, the White House said on social media that the Memphis total crime rate was higher than the national average and suggested that the rate had increased since last year, bucking national trends.

Trump last month deployed National Guard troops to Washington and federalized the city’s police force in a crackdown he has since argued reduced crime. Sending the National Guard to Memphis would constitute his latest test of the limits of presidential power by using military force in American cities.

Tennessee’s Republican governor embraced the troop deployment as part of a broader law enforcement surge in Memphis. However, Trump’s assertion drew pushback from the Democratic leader of Memphis, which is majority Black.

“I did not ask for the National Guard, and I don’t think it’s the way to drive down crime,” Mayor Paul Young told a news conference Friday while acknowledging the city remained high on too many “bad lists.”

Speculation had centered on Chicago as Trump’s next city to send in the National Guard and other federal authorities. But the administration has faced fierce resistance from Democratic Illinois J.B. Pritzker and other local authorities.