2020, where the national guard had been deployed in the black lives matter protest and the reactions thereafter, there were helicopters buzzing people in the streets, all of the military leaders are then worried about do we have a plan for what the military s role is going to be. if there is some need for them in the district, then add to that throughout all of the lead up to january 6th you hear talk of and from former lieutenant general flynn saying hey, we re going to have martial law and the military is coming up. there s the optics question where the military is worried, if they send troops, it looks like there s going to be a coup or the military is involved in a coup. the last part that i consistently got in there. we watch too much black hawk down or zero thinkerty. this is a national guard unit mostly deployed to metro stops
because they knew that donald trump did not want the riot broken up. there s no question there, and trump, of course, didn t do anything himself to summon the national guard. we recall vice president pence from the capitol having to ask, where are the troops, why has this not happened yet. we heard cries from speaker pelosi for the same. it was reluctant because of the backlash to what had happened a few months earlier, that again, was donald trump s doing when he used military police and law enforcement to clear out peaceful protesters from lafayette park, the george floyd protests outside the white house because he wanted to have a photo op at the church. the military got heat for that, including joint chief of staff milli, his defense staff at the time. there was reluctance for the pentagon to move again.
not a good security situation. he said an optics question. not the perfect time to have a celebration which the state of the union tends to be. back to you. joe johns, thank you very much. let s discuss with the white house correspondent for reuters and white house economic policy reporter for the washington post. thank you for coming on. jeff, you spent time in the white house here. this is a remarkable back down for the president. i wonder on the shutdown. he has his chief of staff asking agency leaders looking into the effects of a shutdown if it continues into march. are you seeing bending of the will of the president on the shutdown itself? on border wall funding? yes and no. i agree with the first point. i think it was sort of a remarkable backdown. that reflects the fact that speaker pelosi has something president trump wants. that s space. the space in the house chamber to give the address which is
potential illegal campaign contribution. and we know from the example of john edwards that these kinds of things can be prosecuted. right. so certainly that represents a legal threat. i know trotter, the fec head at the time, said he thinks the facts line up better here. we don t know that. he doesn t have command of the facts in this situation. even if it did come to fruition, it s a fine. he is the president of the united states. no, i get it. but that is an optics question. it is not real legal exposure. we keep talking about it that way. it is not like this is going to be upseting the presidency even if he were found and feel free to weigh in, julie. the idea that if this went to a deposition, if he wanted to talk to mueller is and for some
he is very unlikely to change. if we are sitting around waiting for him to apologize for anything he s done since taking office or before we ll be waiting a long time. the only thing he has apologized for was after the access hollywood tape came out. the theme seems to be this is a problem but it s never going to happen. it s working great. i am not asking whether it is something that people like politically. i am asking about governor naan it s charming that you re wondering if he ll transition into his responsibility as the leader of the free world. i actually think this is more of an optics question in the way he thinks about it. the question is is it working. two things have happened. about ten years ago you started seeing elected officials on the left and right, actually, not just donald trump, certainly,