Trump 'Not Going to Let Seattle Be Occupied by Anarchists'

Rejecting calls to stand down police against anarchy, rioters, looters, and arsonists, President Donald Trump vowed a stern response in Seattle if the Democratic governor or mayor cannot retake the alleged "autonomous zone."

"It is very simple: We're not going to let Seattle be occupied by anarchists," Trump told Fox News' Harris Faulkner in an interview previewed Thursday night on Fox News' "Special Report" with Bret Baier and "The Story" with Martha MacCallum. "And I'm not calling them protesters."

Trump doubled down on his rebuke of lack of toughness on the part of Washington state Gov. Jay Inslee, who just Wednesday expressed surprise of the situation that was happening in his largest city, and Seattle Mayor Jenny Durkan, who told the U.S. president to go back to his "bunker" Thursday.

"If there were more toughness, we would not have the kind of devastation that you had in Minneapolis and in Seattle," Trump told Faulkner. "Let's see what's going on in Seattle, but I will tell you, if they don't straighten that situation out, we are going to straighten it out."

Trump pointed to how the U.S. National Guard helped restore law and order in Minneapolis, the city that saw rioting, looting, and arson after one of its white police officers, Derek Chauvin, held a knee against the neck of an unarmed black man, George Floyd, for 8 minutes and 46 seconds. Floyd died, and the event set off massive protests, along with some violence and looting, both in the U.S. and around the world.

"It is unconstitutional and illegal to send the military to Seattle," Mayor Durkan said earlier Thursday, responding to tweets by Trump in which he essentially made the same pledge to intervene and restore order in Seattle if local officials did not act.

The call to the National Guard or U.S. military to take back the portion of the Seattle, Washington, must come from Gov. Inslee, however.

"We are not going to let this happen in Seattle," Trump concluded in an interview where Faulkner stressed Trump would not back down on his tough police and law-and-order stance. "If we have to go in, we are going to go in. The governor either is going to – let the governor do it – but he's got great National Guard troops, he can do it.

"One way or the other, it is going to get done. These people are not going to occupy a major portion of a great city."

At the same news conference in which Durkan insisted troop intervention by Trump would be unlawful, Seattle Police Chief Carmen Best said the protesters could not remain camped behind barricades in the city's Capitol Hill neighborhood.

The encampment, dubbed by some the "Capitol Hill Autonomous Zone," formed after weeks of protests over the death in Minneapolis of a black man, George Floyd, in police custody.

Newsmax wires contributed to this report.