Republican Gov. Phil Scott has “politely declined” a federal request to deploy Vermont National Guard soldiers to Washington, D.C. as part of President Donald Trump’s controversial directive to tamp down on crime.
At Trump’s behest, the federal government has taken control of the capital city’s police force and dispatched approximately 800 National Guard troops, as well as roughly 500 federal law enforcement agents, to patrol the streets.
Their numbers could have included a “few dozen” soldiers from Vermont, according to Scott’s chief of staff, Jason Gibbs, had the governor not rebuffed a preliminary request from the Pentagon last week.
“While public safety is a legitimate concern in cities across the country and certainly in the nation’s capital, in the absence of an immediate emergency or disaster that local and regional first responders are unable to handle, the governor just does not support utilizing the guard for this purpose, and does not view the enforcement of domestic law as a proper use of the National Guard,” Gibbs said Friday.
Gibbs said the governor’s calculation might have been different if Washington, D.C. officials were seeking federal assistance with an emergency situation. Instead, the city on Friday filed a legal challenge to the Trump administration’s takeover of its police force.
“But in this case, because it is being hyperpoliticized, the governor doesn’t feel like — and I believe the vast majority of Vermonters don’t feel like — it would be an acceptable and appropriate use of the National Guard,” Gibbs said.
It isn’t the first time Scott has denied the Trump administration’s request to use Vermont National Guard soldiers for a domestic mission. Late last month, the Pentagon asked Scott to mobilize a dozen Guard soldiers to perform administrative duties at detention facilities operated by U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement.
Scott rejected the request, saying it was inconsistent with his views of the purpose of the National Guard.
The Republican governor’s decision caught the attention of a group of retired four-star admirals and generals, who sent a letter to Scott Thursday praising his actions. The letter, signed by people including retired Adm. Steve Abbott, the former acting homeland security advisor to President Trump, and retired Air Force Gen. Michael Hayden, former director of the Central Intelligence Agency, said Trump’s recent requests for Guard troops “represent a troubling blurring of lines between civilian law enforcement and military responsibilities.”
“By rejecting the Department of Defense’s request to activate the Vermont Army National Guard as an inappropriate use of military resources, you stood up for the security of Vermonters and the healthy civil-military relationship envisioned by our nation’s founders,” they wrote.
While Scott has thus far into the second Trump administration turned down all federal requests related to potential Guard operations, he has complied with other controversial orders.
Earlier this month, Scott approved the release of the sensitive personal information of about 140,000 low-income Vermonters to the U.S. Department of Agriculture. His decision drew condemnation from food-security advocates and prominent Vermont Democrats.
Scott said an exhaustive legal review by his administration concluded that the Trump administration's demand for the data was a lawful order.
Gibbs said Friday that the governor’s pattern of decision-making, when it comes to requests from the federal government over the past seven months, reflects a deliberative process that is “disciplined and clinical.”
“He makes a decision that is very detail driven. And it’s not politically driven. It’s not rhetorically driven. It’s not driven by media, and it’s not driven by fear or anger or frustration,” Gibbs said.
“And that type of protocol we believe serves everyone well … and represents the type of leadership in this particular political environment that is different than what we’re seeing on both sides of the political spectrum.”
