When President Donald Trump announced he was sending troops to “protect war-ravaged” Portland, his administration cited the need to protect Immigration and Customs Enforcement facilities from persistent demonstrations.
But behind the scenes, White House officials say, Trump also had another goal in mind: he wanted to use the military to advance his federal crime crackdown, and he saw protecting ICE facilities as a good pretext.
“You can kill two birds with one stone,” a person familiar with the talks said.
That strategy is notable given the president shelved his plans to target crime in Chicago last month, at least for the time being, after advisers warned him that sending in troops to help with local law enforcement without buy-in from the state’s Democratic governor could create legal headaches that they want to avoid, CNN previously reported.
However, Portland, another blue city in a blue state, is different, Trump administration officials said, from a legal and
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