One day after Donald Trump named several cities to which he would consider sending federal law enforcement, White House press secretary Kayleigh McEnany refused to say whether planning for such deployment is underway.

Asked Tuesday about a possible escalation of the tactics Trump is currently using in Portland, Oregon, McEnany said, "I think you're getting ahead of the president here."

But on Monday in the Oval Office, Trump specifically said he was considering sending troops to Chicago and New York, erroneously describing them as "all run by the radical left."

"We're looking at Chicago too, we're looking at New York, look at what's going on," Trump told reporters.

The day before that, Trump tweeted about "New York, Chicago, Philadelphia" in the same context as Portland, which he falsely claimed had endured "50 days of anarchy."

From a July 21 press briefing:

REPORTER: The president says he wants to send these forces to other cities like Chicago — cities where federal property isn't necessarily under attack. What are they going to do when they get to Chicago and these other cities with higher crime rates, higher shooting rates, higher murder rates, if the president's worried about that, what are they going to do? What are they going to arrest people with?
KAYLEIGH McENANY: I think you're getting ahead of the president here.
REPORTER: What kind of federal charges?
McENANY: He's made no announcements as to who's going where. He's very discouraged by the violence that he's seen in Chicago, it's why he's sent a very strong letter to Mayor Lightfoot offering help, because she's clearly unable to control her streets. And the governor, as well, unable to control that area.

McEnany on cities 07-21-2020 from Shareblue Media on Vimeo

Published with permission of The American Independent Foundation.