Sen. Chris Murphy (D-Conn.) on Sunday dismissed President Trump’s recent crackdown on Washington, D.C., as a “stunt.”
“What’s happening here in Washington, D.C., is just a stunt. Donald Trump didn’t like the fact that the walls were closing in on him, that his own base was questioning why he wouldn’t release the Epstein files, why he was protecting very powerful people,” Murphy told NBC News’s Kristen Welker on “Meet the Press.”
“He didn’t want to talk anymore about the fact that our health care system is about to collapse because of the cuts that they have made, that premiums are going to go up by 75 percent on Americans,” he added. “And so, true to form, he just decided to create a new news cycle.”
Earlier this week, Trump announced he was taking federal control of D.C.’s police department and deploying the National Guard in the city in an effort to fight crime. Trump’s recent moves in the nation’s capital have drawn heavy blowback from Democrats and reignited calls for statehood for the District, which does not have voting representation in Congress.
On Saturday, South Carolina Gov. Henry McMaster (R) announced that he had authorized the deployment of 200 National Guard troops to help “restore law and order” in D.C., also saying that they could be recalled if there was a South Carolina disaster.
“I’ve authorized the deployment of 200 S.C. National Guardsmen to support President Trump in his mission to restore law and order to our nation’s capital. The federal government will pay for this deployment under Title 32,” McMaster said on the social media platform X.
“Our National Guard will work to assist President Trump’s mission, and should a hurricane or natural disaster threaten our state, they can and will be immediately recalled home to respond,” the governor added.
The Hill has reached out to the White House for comment.
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