President Donald Trump is directing Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth to send U.S. troops to Portland, he said Saturday on Truth Social, making the extraordinary pronouncement that he is greenlighting the use of “Full Force, if necessary” in an American city.
“At the request of Secretary of Homeland Security, Kristi Noem, I am directing Secretary of War, Pete Hegseth, to provide all necessary Troops to protect War ravaged Portland, and any of our ICE Facilities under siege from attack by Antifa, and other domestic terrorists,” he wrote.
Further details about the president’s actions were not immediately clear — including what legal authority the president would rely on to authorize “full force” of the military in Oregon. A federal law, the Posse Comitatus Act of 1878, generally bars the president from using federal troops to enforce domestic law.
The Defense Department did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
