Dem Rep. Smith: ‘It’s Pretty Clear the President Wants His Own Domestic Police Force’

EXCERPT:

SMITH: "Well, I think it‘s once again Trump using the military to exert power and influence domestically in a way that should alarm us all. I mean, it‘s similar to what happened in Los Angeles. Look, this president is is trampling on basic freedoms of the American people to a degree we — I don‘t think we‘ve ever seen. You see that with what the ICE agents are doing in terms of picking people up off the streets with no evidence, no due process, locking people up. This is happening all across the country. Look, it‘s pretty clear the president wants his own domestic police force, and step by step, he‘s trying to create it. And we should be deeply alarmed by that, regardless of how you feel about crime in Washington, D.C., or any other city. I mean, certainly, I think we can — we can always be doing better on enforcing the law and protecting our citizens in various different places, but there‘s ways to do that without involving the Department of Defense. And that step is a huge step towards an autocratic government with a president who has his own domestic police force. So that‘s the biggest thing that alarms me about it. You want to talk to Washington, D.C., about how to do a better job on crime? Sure. But calling in the military, as he has done over and over and over again across the country, along the border, you know, that undermines the freedoms of all Americans. And we should be concerned about it."