2:10President Donald Trump addresses reporters while sitting alongside South Korean President Lee Jae Myung in the Oval Office at the White House in Washington on August 25, 2025. Mandel Ngan/AFP via Getty Images
President Donald Trump declared on Monday that he remains ready to dispatch National Guard personnel to U.S. cities outside Washington, yet emphasized that state leaders must formally request that assistance.
The remarks followed Trump’s warning that Chicago could become the next location for intervention after his team’s federal seizure of the District, a stance that drew sharp opposition from Democratic Governor JB Pritzker, who by Monday afternoon labeled the president’s plan “un-American.”
"They ought to be pleading, 'Please come in,'" Trump informed ABC News Correspondent Jay O'Brien while fielding questions in the Oval Office after issuing a batch of executive orders.
The president again lashed out at Chicago, branding it a “catastrophe,” and slammed Pritzker as a “slob.”
"I pointed out that Chicago should come next, because, you know, it’s essentially a killing field, and they pretend otherwise. And they scream, 'We don’t want him here. Freedom. Freedom. He’s a dictator. He’s a dictator.' Some are even saying, 'Maybe we could use a dictator.' I dislike dictators. I’m no dictator. I’m just a leader with exceptional common sense and intelligence," the president declared.
"But, frankly, I urge each of you: in a certain sense, we ought to be invited," Trump added.
President Donald Trump takes questions from the media during a bilateral discussion with South Korean President Lee Jae Myung in the Oval Office at the White House in Washington, August 25, 2025.Mandel Ngan/AFP via Getty Images
Throughout Monday, Trump alternated between signaling that his administration might take charge unilaterally and insisting that an invitation must precede any action.
"We might hold off. Or perhaps not. There’s a case for simply moving in, which is probably what should happen," Trump stated. "The difficulty is, it’s unsightly when you fix things and then bystanders, despite the successes, declare, 'We don’t want troops here.'"
In response, Governor Pritzker and Chicago authorities are voicing fierce opposition to the president’s threat of a National Guard deployment.
"This morning in the Oval Office, Donald Trump turned to the cameras and demanded that I personally beg, 'Mr. President, we would be honored if you safeguarded our city.' My reply is this: 'Mr. President, stay out of Chicago,'" Pritzker told reporters at a Chicago briefing on Monday.
"President Trump’s actions are without precedent and entirely unjustified. They’re unlawful. They breach the Constitution. They are the opposite of American values," the governor added.
Data released by the Chicago Police Department reveal that year-to-date murders and robberies have fallen 31 percent and 33 percent, respectively, versus the same stretch in 2024. Overall city crime is down 13 percent compared to last year.
"There is no crisis in Chicago justifying armed military intervention," Pritzker emphasized Monday. "There is no rebellion. Like every major American city in red and blue states alike, we manage crime. In fact, violent crime is more severe in many Republican-led states and municipalities."
National Guard personnel patrol 14th Street alongside Washington DC Metro police on August 24, 2025, in Washington, DC.Tasos Katopodis/Getty Images
ABC News Senior Political Correspondent Rachel Scott pressed Trump on whether he might send Guard units into GOP-run states or cities suffering high crime. Trump replied affirmatively yet seemed convinced it would rarely be necessary.
"Absolutely," Trump answered. "But such places aren’t numerous."
Trump kept his focus on Democratic jurisdictions and railed against no-cash bail systems, despite an Axios analysis of FBI crime statistics showing that 13 of the 20 American cities with the highest homicide rates sit in Republican-controlled states.
During Monday’s session, the president praised the first 11 days of his administration’s takeover of Washington, which has placed more than a thousand National Guard members in the capital, some authorized to carry arms for self-defense.
As part of his anti-crime agenda, Trump inked an executive directive aimed at eliminating cashless bail in Washington and vowed to strip federal funding from any jurisdiction maintaining similar policies.
He also signed another order instructing the Justice Department to probe flag-burning incidents for potential prosecution—this despite a 1989 Supreme Court ruling that burning an American flag cannot be criminalized when performed as expressive conduct.
Sourse: abcnews.go.com
