SACRAMENTO, California — President Donald Trump deployed 300 California National Guard troops to Portland after a federal judge blocked the president’s call-up of Oregon’s National Guard, Gavin Newsom said Sunday, vowing to sue the Trump administration in response.
The California governor argued the move — with troops on their way to Portland on Sunday morning — flouted the Oregon order.
“This is a breathtaking abuse of the law and power,” Newsom said in a statement. “The Trump Administration is unapologetically attacking the rule of law itself and putting into action their dangerous words — ignoring court orders and treating judges, even those appointed by the President himself, as political opponents.” A Trump administration spokesperson did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
The overtaking of California troops, once again against the sitting governor’s will, further escalates President Trump’s relentless offensive on Golden State Democrats. His administration has in just the last few weeks lobbed mortgage fraud allegations against Sen. Adam Schiff, canceled funding to California and other blue states amid the government shutdown and threatened to move Olympic and World Cup competitions out of Los Angeles, citing crime.
Trump had already moved to send California troops — who he dispatched to Los Angeles amid immigration protests earlier this year — to train the Oregon Guard, Newsom told the San Francisco Chronicle on Friday. The cross-state deployment added a new twist to the administration’s overtaking of troops in blue states. Trump’s previous plans for deployments in Illinois and Oregon involved personnel local to those states.
