{"id":9193,"date":"2026-04-17T12:15:04","date_gmt":"2026-04-17T17:15:04","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/westplexnews.com\/index.php\/2026\/04\/17\/national-guard-follows-the-constitution-general-says-of-troops-possibly-deployed-to-polls\/"},"modified":"2026-04-17T12:15:04","modified_gmt":"2026-04-17T17:15:04","slug":"national-guard-follows-the-constitution-general-says-of-troops-possibly-deployed-to-polls","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/westplexnews.com\/index.php\/2026\/04\/17\/national-guard-follows-the-constitution-general-says-of-troops-possibly-deployed-to-polls\/","title":{"rendered":"National Guard \u2018follows the Constitution,\u2019 general says of troops possibly deployed to polls"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"Members
\n

Members of the National Guard patrol the entrance to the Union Station stop on Washington, D.C.’s Metro system, on March 25, 2026. President Donald Trump was appearing at a GOP event at Union Station that night. (Photo by Jane Norman\/States Newsroom)<\/p>\n<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

The National Guard\u2019s top general told Congress on Friday that it would follow the Constitution and the law when he was asked about the possibility President Donald Trump would order troops to polling places for the midterm elections.<\/p>\n

The remarks at a U.S. House Appropriations subcommittee hearing<\/a> came as Democratic lawmakers also voiced unease over the\u00a0continuing deployment<\/a> of nearly 2,500 National Guard members\u00a0in Washington, D.C.<\/a><\/p>\n

Rep. Joe Morelle, a New York Democrat, asked Gen. Steven Nordhaus, chief of the National Guard Bureau, what assurances he could provide to Americans concerned about the deployment of troops at the polls.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cThe National Guard, obviously, always follows the Constitution, law, policy and guidance, both at the federal and the state level,\u201d Nordhaus said.<\/p>\n

Federal law prohibits the deployment of the military to polling places unless necessary \u201cto repel armed enemies of the United States\u201d and violations are punishable by up to five years in prison.<\/p>\n

Trump\u00a0has said\u00a0<\/a>that he should have ordered the National Guard to seize ballot boxes during the 2020 election, which he falsely maintains was stolen. Steve Bannnon, a former Trump adviser, has publicly urged the president to send the military and Immigration and Customs Enforcement, or ICE, agents to patrol the polls.<\/p>\n

Trump last year deployed National Guard members to\u00a0several Democratic-led cities,<\/a> in some instances federalizing them against the will of governors, who typically command National Guard members. He also sent active-duty Marines\u00a0into Los Angeles.<\/a> Opponents of the deployments expressed fears that they represented a test run for intimidating voters.<\/p>\n

While the deployment to the District of Columbia continues, Trump withdrew troops from other cities after the Supreme Court in December left in place<\/a> a lower court decision barring a deployment in Chicago.<\/p>\n

Rep. Betty McCollum, a Minnesota Democrat, questioned how long the D.C. deployment is sustainable. She also referred to reporting\u00a0by ABC News<\/a> that the Pentagon intends to keep troops in D.C. through the end of Trump\u2019s term in January 2029.<\/p>\n

\u201cPicking up waste in the District of Columbia does not prepare anyone for conflicts that could arise in Europe, Asia and the Middle East,\u201d McCollum said.<\/p>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Members of the National Guard patrol the entrance to the Union Station stop on Washington, D.C.’s Metro system, on March 25, 2026. President Donald Trump was appearing at a GOP event at Union Station that night. (Photo by Jane Norman\/States Newsroom) The National Guard\u2019s top general told Congress on Friday that it would follow the…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":9194,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_kadence_starter_templates_imported_post":false,"_kad_post_transparent":"","_kad_post_title":"","_kad_post_layout":"","_kad_post_sidebar_id":"","_kad_post_content_style":"","_kad_post_vertical_padding":"","_kad_post_feature":"","_kad_post_feature_position":"","_kad_post_header":false,"_kad_post_footer":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-9193","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"yoast_head":"\nNational Guard \u2018follows the Constitution,\u2019 general says of troops possibly deployed to polls - WestplexNews.com<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/westplexnews.com\/index.php\/2026\/04\/17\/national-guard-follows-the-constitution-general-says-of-troops-possibly-deployed-to-polls\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"National Guard \u2018follows the Constitution,\u2019 general says of troops possibly deployed to polls - WestplexNews.com\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Members of the National Guard patrol the entrance to the Union Station stop on Washington, D.C.’s Metro system, on March 25, 2026. 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