A day after President Donald Trump moved to deploy hundreds of National Guard troops to Washington, District Attorney Larry Krasner warned the president against taking similar actions in Philadelphia.
Trump indicated earlier this week that he may expand the effort to other cities, specifically mentioning Chicago, Los Angeles, New York, Baltimore and Oakland, according to the Hill.
“I hope they’re listening in D.C. They need to hear it now,” Krasner, the city’s top law enforcement official, said at a Tuesday afternoon news conference. “As they like to say in Philly, I ain’t the one.”
“Every Philadelphian likes to say that,” he added. “We ain’t the one and we ain’t the two either. We’re not going to be the three. We’re not going to be the four. You’re not going to D.C. and LA and New York and coming here.”
Trump said Monday he would be sending 800 members of the National Guard into the nation’s capital and taking over Washington’s Metropolitan Police Department, with the stated goal of reducing crime and lawlessness in the city.
Attorneys in Krasner’s office told reporters that Trump does not have the legal basis for a deployment in Philadelphia and that he does not have the constitutional authority to commandeer the PPD.
Unique aspects of Washington law permit the president to assume control of the capital’s police department during emergencies, Reuters reported. Trump also has more authority over National Guard troops assigned to the District.
Violent crime has been falling in Washington, and Krasner noted the same trend in Philadelphia. PPD statistics show the total number of incidents across a broad range of categories is down 7%, and the city has experienced the fewest number of homicides so far in more than 50 years.
“We are at an amazing low in Philadelphia and in Washington, D.C., and in Baltimore and in one city after another,” he added.
Krasner, a progressive who has often clashed with Trump and his fellow Republicans, questioned the president’s motives, suggesting he might be trying to distract from the ongoing controversy over the Jeffrey Epstein files or create a pretense for further political violence.
The DA’s team showed photographs from the 1970 Kent State shootings on a projector as he spoke about the dangers of using the military for domestic purposes.
“It is not a good idea to take a military force who are trained to kill the enemy and deploy them for a civilian peacekeeping job,” he told the press.
A few faith leaders joined Krasner at Tuesday’s news conference, which was held at the Church of Christian Compassion in West Philadelphia.
“We need justice and not just ICE,” said Kenneth Nuriddin, imam at the Philadelphia Masjid. “The response has been to militarize any issue that comes up, and treat it as though every problem is a nail and the only tool you have is a hammer.”
Rabbi Mordechai Liebling called Trump “a sinner,” saying he defines the concept as anything that seeks to cut people off from one another or divide.
“The man is deeply a racist,” he said. “And that’s why he attacks cities that are homes of Black and brown people and wants to take over.”
