White House lashes back at Pennsylvania Gov. Josh Shapiro after he criticizes National Guard deployments

Aliya Schneider, The Philadelphia Inquirer on Sep 5, 2025

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PHILADELPHIA — The White House lambasted Gov. Josh Shapiro this week for opposing President Donald Trump’s deployments of national troops to American cities after the Democratic governor said he’d be prepared if Philly joined Trump’s list.

“Another wannabe Presidential candidate is desperate to get into the news cycle by attacking the President’s highly successful operations to drive down violent crime — this won’t fool the American people and Pennsylvanians who elected President Trump on his law and order platform,” White House spokesperson Abigail Jackson said in a statement.

Shapiro told reporters at event in Philadelphia earlier this week that the method is “wrongheaded.”

Trump has not threatened to send the National Guard to Philadelphia in the way he has for other U.S. cities like Baltimore and Chicago, but Shapiro said he “has been preparing for such a thing to happen in Philadelphia.”

In June, the governor said he would “stand up” to Trump if he sends troops to Pennsylvania and affirmed his own control over the state’s National Guard, following Trump’s deployment of the California National Guard in Los Angeles.

Trump’s deployment of the National Guard to Washington, D.C. is unique because of his wide control over the federal district, but he would face greater hurdles in Philadelphia and other cities. A judge said his sending of national troops to Los Angeles over the summer was unlawful following a lawsuit from California Gov. Gavin Newsom.

Democratic leaders have argued that Trump’s interference has been both unconstitutional and unnecessary.

In his remarks on Tuesday, Shapiro, a former attorney general, noted a decrease in violent crime in Philadelphia and the state as a whole, which he credited to millions of state dollars invested in community organizations and policing.

“Now is not a time to disrupt that with distrust the way the president is doing in other communities,” Shapiro said. “Now is the time to continue making the progress we’re making here in the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania.”

Jackson said in her statement that “Shapiro should listen to fellow Democrat Mayor Muriel Bowser who recently celebrated the Trump Administration’s success in driving down violent crime in Washington DC.”

Bowser, the D.C. mayor, has given mixed remarks about what she thinks of Trump deploying the guard in D.C. She said “we greatly appreciate the surge of officers” that have worked with the district’s police and acknowledged that it led to a decrease in crime, but also expressed concerns over D.C.’s autonomy and distrust in police in the city.

D.C. Attorney General Brian Schwalb sued the Trump administration on Thursday for sending the National Guard, arguing that it interferes with the city’s sovereignty and unlawfully uses the military for domestic enforcement.

Philadelphia District Attorney Larry Krasner also criticized Trump’s efforts to send troops to Democratic-led cities on CNN Wednesday night and said Philadelphians should record troops on their cell phones if they come to the city. He praised Illinois Gov. JB Pritzker for pushing back against Trump’s plan to deploy troops in Chicago.

Shapiro continued to criticize Trump in a post on X on Friday saying “anyone who tries to undermine Pennsylvanians’ fundamental freedoms” will have to go through him, including the president.

Shapiro’s office declined to respond to Jackson’s remarks on Friday.