President Donald Trump is openly considering invoking the 1807 Insurrection Act to quell mounting unrest in Los Angeles, where hundreds of Marines and National Guard troops now patrol downtown streets amid an unprecedented federal confrontation with California that has triggered a constitutional crisis over states' rights and presidential power.
The extraordinary standoff reached a new threshold on Tuesday night as Los Angeles Mayor Karen Bass imposed an emergency curfew across one square mile of downtown, declaring 'we have reached a tipping point' after 23 businesses were looted and nearly 470 people arrested during five consecutive nights of civil disorder.
'If there's an insurrection, I would certainly invoke it. We'll see. But I can tell you, last night was terrible. The night before that was terrible,' Trump told reporters at the White House Oval Office.
