Senators clash during hearing over president's Guard deployments

Members of Congress clashed Thursday over President Trump's use of the National Guard in American cities, with Republicans saying the deployments were needed to fight lawlessness while Democrats called his move an extraordinary abuse of military power that violated states' rights.

- BY DAVID KLEPPER, BEN FINLEY AND STEPHEN GROVES

SENS. Roger Wicker (R-Miss.) and Jack Reed (D-R.I.) at a hearing Thursday.

(ANDREW HARNIK Getty Images)

Top military officials were faced questioning over the deployments for the first time at the hearing before the Senate Armed Services Committee. They were pressed by Democrats over the legality of sending in troops, which in some places was done over the objections of mayors and governors, while Trump's Republican allies offered a robust defense of the policy.

It was the highest level of scrutiny, outside a courtroom, of Trump's use of the National Guard in U.S. cities since the deployments began and came a day after the president faced another legal setback over efforts to send troops to support federal law enforcement, protect federal facilities and combat crime.

"In recent years, violent crime, rioting, drug trafficking and heinous gang activity have steadily escalated," said Mississippi Sen. Roger Wicker, the committee chairman. The deployments, he said, are "not only appropriate, but essential."

Democrats argued they are illegal and contrary to historic prohibitions about the use of military force on U.S. soil.

Sen. Tammy Duckworth (D-Ill.) had pushed for the hearing, saying domestic deployments traditionally have involved responding to major floods and tornadoes, not assisting immigration agents who are detaining people in aggressive raids.