00:00Yeah. Josh Chapin, Channel 7. I just want to be clear also that this ramp up, this emergency we're talking about, is a brief period, like a 30-day period. Am I right?
00:11The charter gives him the ability to do it for 30 days, yes.
00:17So that means cooperating with the, you know, whatever he wants to do.
00:22Well, it means that we follow the law, that the MPD follows the law as well, as well as all of the federal officials who are here.
00:35It's also important just, and we will do this in our communications with them, understand, like, what they're looking to see.
00:43If this, so the fact that we have more law enforcement and presence in neighborhoods, that could not, you know, that may be positive if people are, if it's a positive action.
00:59So that's what the executive order says.
01:04Yeah, Mark.
01:06A couple quick questions. One, do you know, will the National Guard be armed?
01:10I don't know.
01:11And then, what if the Attorney General directs the Chief of Police to redirect sources, to do something that you and the Chief disagree with?
01:21For instance, redirect resources from east of the river to the federal line of play with something like that.
01:27Will you comply with, you say you're going to follow the law, you say you want to be cooperative.
01:32What if you get a directive from the White House or the Attorney General that you just steadfastly don't agree with and think it's the wrong move and would jeopardize public safety in other neighborhoods?
01:43Will you comply?
01:44I don't have any reason to think that at this point, Mark, so I don't want to speculate about that.
01:53The executive order, as is the Home Rule Charter, is pretty clear that the directives have to be, the requests have to be related to federal purposes.
02:05And then, can I ask, the President threatened to use, not just the National Guard, but military, to bring the United States military, federal troops into the District of Columbia, if needed.
02:16Can you respond to that threat?
02:17I mean, we're in uncharted waters already.
02:20A lot of people are seeing this as the first step in an assault on Home Rule, which the President has threatened.
02:27He's been making these threats since last year, and now he's carrying through with them.
02:31There's no reason to believe he won't go further.
02:34What do you say to the President about his threats to bringing the military, not just the National Guard, but the military?
02:40We don't, and I think I speak for all Americans,
02:44we don't believe or believe it's legal to use the American military against American citizens on American soil.
02:51I'm not a lawyer, but I think that's a fairly widely held fact.
03:01And so, but we've seen them move, I think, the active military into California.
03:08So, it is, it's a question, we've seen active military on the borders of D.C. some years ago,
03:17and we don't believe that our military should be used against American citizens.
03:22Yes.
03:22Mayor Bowser, can you talk a little bit about
Comments