Governor Bill Lee confirmed he is in talks with the Trump administration to send Tennessee National Guard troops to assist with the president’s mobilization of the military to restore law and order in Washington, D.C.
Lee, while speaking to reporters Wednesday during a groundbreaking ceremony for a new Barrett Firearms facility, confirmed he has spoken to U.S. Army Secretary Daniel Driscoll about the possibility of sending Tennessee troops to D.C.
“I told [Driscoll] we would be, obviously, willing to work with them on whatever they needed. The current status, I cannot speak to, but the request…of interest was made, and I expressed interest,” the governor said.
President Donald Trump issued an executive order on Monday titled “Declaring a Crime Emergency in the District of Columbia,” invoking Section 740 of the District of Columbia Home Rule Act to place the Metropolitan Police under federal control for up to 30 days unless extended by a joint resolution of Congress.
The president further signed a memorandum Monday directing U.S. Department of Defense (DOD) Secretary Pete Hegseth to mobilize the D.C. National Guard until “law and order is restored” in the capital.
The Defense Department has since called up and activated 800 National Guard troops, both Army and Air National Guard, to participate in the “Safe and Beautiful Task Force” as outlined in Trump’s March 28 executive order titled, “Making the District of Columbia Safe and Beautiful.”
For now, according to DOD, about 200 guardsmen at a time are on the streets providing support to federal law enforcement and the Metropolitan Police Department.
On Thursday, Pentagon Press Secretary Kingsley Wilson was asked by reporters whether or not guardsmen from other states will be sent to D.C. to assist those already deployed, to which she declined to speak on “future support” for the mission mobilizing the military in D.C.
Lee’s interest in sending Tennessee National Guard troops to D.C. follows reports last week that the governor is also mobilizing guardsmen to assist the federal government in carrying out deportations of illegal aliens by performing administrative and clerical tasks at U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) processing facilities across the Volunteer State.
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Kaitlin Housler is a reporter at The Tennessee Star and The Star News Network. Follow Kaitlin on X / Twitter.
