Hello and welcome to the latest updates in US politics. We start with the news that a small number of state military forces has started protecting federal property in the Greater Chicago region and assisting law enforcement in Memphis on Wednesday, according to officials.
Troop Information
An element of two hundred Texas military personnel were working in the Greater Chicago region, according to a representative for the US Northern Command, who communicated with the Associated Press on condition of anonymity in order to discuss mission specifics that have not been officially released.
The military personnel are in the city to protect US Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) buildings and other government properties and police officers, Northern Command said online.
The troops, along with about 300 from Illinois, had reached on Tuesday at a US Army Reserve Center in Elwood, 55 miles southwest of Chicago. All five hundred personnel are under the Northern Command and have been deployed for 60 days. The spokesperson wasn't able to quickly provide details about how the personnel were equipped.
Background Situation
It coincides with Donald Trump on Wednesday called for the jailing of Brandon Johnson, Chicago's city leader, and JB Pritzker, the Illinois governor, accusing them of failing to protect US Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) personnel.
"Chicago Mayor should be in prison for not protecting Ice Officers!" Trump wrote on his social media platform on Wednesday morning. "The state governor also!"
Both Johnson and Pritzker are Democrats. Trump's remarks come as state military forces have begun arriving in the Greater Chicago region at the direction of the federal administration, despite opposition from state authorities, including Pritzker and Johnson.
Other Updates
- Donald Trump declared that Hamas and Israel have accepted a tentative deal to end the fighting in Gaza, and free captured individuals and Palestinian prisoners.
- Reports about the Gaza agreement was applauded by GOP legislators, who called on Trump to be awarded the Nobel Peace prize this week, but received with greater caution by Arab-American communities.
- During White House event, Trump seemed unfamiliar with the term 'Habeas Corpus' and referred to his homeland security secretary. In May, Noem gave a highly incorrect definition of the core legal principle that requires that the government provide a official justification for detaining and imprisoning people.
- All of the participants who contributed testimony at the White House "antifa roundtable" organized by the administration on Wednesday were self-described independent journalists who might more accurately described as political content creators. The influencers cover liberal demonstrations in a partisan fashion, more similar to political investigation than nonpartisan reporting.
- Senate Republicans voted down a war powers resolution that would have checked Trump's authority to use lethal armed action against suspected drug smugglers after Democrats tried to oppose the government's unprecedented deployment of the military to destroy boats in the Caribbean Sea.
- During the White House "antifa roundtable" on Wednesday, at least one witness echoed Trump's false claim that large numbers of people have been murdered by left-wing radicals in Portland, Oregon. The accurate count of killings by self-described "antifa" radicals in Portland is: one.
