Hello and welcome to the most recent updates in US politics. We begin with the news that a small number of National Guard troops has started protecting federal property in the Chicago area and supporting police operations in Memphis on Wednesday, as confirmed by authorities.
Troop Information
An unit of 200 Texas Guard troops were operating in the Chicago area, according to a representative for the US Northern Command, who spoke to the Associated Press on background basis in order to reveal mission specifics that have not been made public.
The military personnel are in the city to secure US Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) facilities and other government properties and law enforcement personnel, Northern Command stated publicly.
The forces, along with about three hundred Illinois personnel, had reached on Tuesday at a US Army Reserve Center in Elwood, 55 miles southwest of Chicago. All five hundred personnel are under the military command and have been activated for 60 days. The spokesperson wasn't able to immediately offer information about how the troops were armed.
Background Situation
It coincides with Donald Trump on Wednesday demanded the jailing of Brandon Johnson, Chicago's city leader, and JB Pritzker, the Illinois governor, accusing them of failing to protect US Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) officers.
"The city's mayor should be in jail for failing to protect ICE personnel!" Trump wrote on his social media platform on Wednesday morning. "Governor Pritzker also!"
Both Johnson and Pritzker are Democrats. Trump's comments coincide with state military forces have begun arriving in the Greater Chicago region at the direction of the federal administration, despite objections from Illinois officials, including Pritzker and Johnson.
Other Updates
- Donald Trump declared that Hamas and Israel have accepted a provisional agreement to cease hostilities in Gaza, and release captured individuals and detained persons.
- Reports about the Gaza agreement was applauded by GOP legislators, who urged Trump to be given the peace award this week, but received with greater caution by Palestinian Americans.
- During White House event, Trump appeared not to recognize the term 'legal principle' and referred to Kristi Noem. In May, Noem gave a highly incorrect explanation of the core legal principle that requires that the government provide a official justification for arresting and jailing people.
- All of the witnesses who provided statements at the White House "political discussion" organized by the administration on Wednesday were self-described independent journalists who might better be called partisan conservative social media influencers. The content producers cover liberal demonstrations in a partisan fashion, more akin to opposition research than nonpartisan reporting.
- Senate Republicans rejected a war powers resolution that would have limited Trump's ability to use lethal armed action against suspected drug smugglers after opposition party tried to oppose the government's unprecedented deployment of the armed forces to destroy boats in the Caribbean.
- During the White House "antifa roundtable" on Wednesday, at least one witness 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 political activists in Portland is: a single incident.
