Donald Trump isn’t ruling anything out when it comes to using extraordinary presidential powers before the midterms to try to prevent a sweeping Democratic victory.
In a new interview with TIME, Trump was asked whether he would rule out invoking the Insurrection Act unless there was widespread violence in the streets.
His answer?
“I don’t rule anything out or in.”
Trump then went a step further.
“I could use it. A lot of people think I should use it sometimes,” he said.
That’s quite a statement from a president just weeks away from a major federal election.
The Insurrection Act gives the president authority under certain circumstances to deploy U.S. armed forces domestically. Trump has previously discussed using military force inside the United States in response to protests, crime and immigration.
He also refused to rule out declaring a state of emergency before the midterms.
“I don’t rule anything out or in,” Trump said when asked about the possibility.
Trump did not specify what circumstances would prompt him to take either step. But he made clear that neither option is off the table.
The comments become especially striking because Trump acknowledged during the same interview that crime rates are historically low.
“We have the lowest murder rate since 1900, 125 years,” he said.
He then pivoted to immigration, claiming that the Biden administration had allowed “25 million people” into the country.
That figure is not supported by official immigration data. Trump has repeatedly used the 25 million figure to describe undocumented immigration during Joe Biden’s presidency, but available government data do not substantiate it.
So Trump was discussing the possibility of extraordinary presidential powers while simultaneously acknowledging that the nation’s murder rate is at a historic low.
