Hello and welcome to the latest developments in US politics. We begin with the news that a small number of National Guard troops has begun guarding government facilities in the Chicago area and supporting police operations in Memphis on Wednesday, as confirmed by authorities.
Troop Information
An unit of two hundred Texas military personnel were working in the Chicago area, according to a representative for the US Northern Command, who communicated with the news agency on condition of anonymity in order to discuss operational details that have not been made public.
The troops are in the urban area to secure US Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) facilities and other government properties and law enforcement personnel, Northern Command stated publicly.
The troops, along with about 300 from Illinois, had arrived Tuesday at a US Army Reserve Center in Elwood, 55 miles southwest of Chicago. All 500 troops are under the Northern Command and have been activated for 60 days. The official wasn't able to quickly provide information about how the personnel were equipped.
Background Situation
It coincides with Donald Trump on Wednesday demanded the imprisonment of Brandon Johnson, Chicago's mayor, and JB Pritzker, the state governor, charging them of failing to protect US Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) personnel.
"The city's mayor should be in prison for not protecting ICE personnel!" Trump wrote on Truth Social on Wednesday morning. "The state governor also!"
Both Johnson and Pritzker are members of the Democratic party. Trump's comments coincide with national guard troops have started deployment in the Chicago area at the order of the federal administration, despite opposition from state authorities, including the governor and mayor.
Other Updates
- The president announced that the conflicting parties have agreed to a provisional agreement to cease hostilities in Gaza, and free captured individuals and detained persons.
- Reports about the Gaza agreement was applauded by GOP legislators, who called on Trump to be given the Nobel Peace prize this week, but greeted with more trepidation by Arab-American communities.
- During presidential gathering, Trump seemed unfamiliar with the term 'Habeas Corpus' and deferred to Kristi Noem. In May, the secretary gave a wildly inaccurate definition of the core legal principle that mandates that the government provide a public reason for arresting and jailing people.
- All of the participants who provided statements at the White House "antifa roundtable" hosted by the administration on Wednesday were self-described independent journalists who might more accurately described as partisan conservative social media influencers. The influencers cover liberal demonstrations in a partisan fashion, more akin to political investigation than nonpartisan reporting.
- GOP senators voted down a military authorization measure that would have checked Trump's authority to use lethal armed action against alleged narcotics traffickers after Democrats tried to oppose the government's unprecedented deployment of the military to eliminate vessels in the Caribbean Sea.
- During the White House "political discussion" on Wednesday, at least a participant repeated Trump's inaccurate statement that large numbers of people have been murdered by left-wing radicals in Portland, Oregon. The correct number of fatal incidents by self-described "antifa" radicals in Portland is: a single incident.
