Trump wanted to deploy 10,000 military personnel in cities

Epser sent as many as 1,600 troops to the Washington region to respond as needed, but the National Guard’s 5,000 units were never in action. The soldiers started to leave on Thursday evening. At a press conference earlier this week, the minister said that the deployment of military personnel in cities should only be done in extreme cases. “We are not in such a situation now,” said Esper.

According to CNN, another defense official said Milley strongly believed that the situation was not so serious as to justify deploying the military. That opened the door for such a presidential order to be legal.

On Saturday, tens of thousands of protesters are on the move in Washington and other American cities, such as New York and Los Angeles. The protests have so far been peaceful.