GOP senator backs Trump deploying National Guard to quash unrest in wake of shooting

Sen. Shelley Moore Capito (R-WV) voiced her support Saturday for President Donald Trump deploying the National Guard to Minnesota to quash the civil unrest sparked by the latest federal immigration officer-involved shooting in Minneapolis.

At least seven federal officers were captured on video Saturday wrestling a man to the ground before shooting him several times. The individual was soon pronounced dead, with the incident sparking outrage among local residents, many of whom clashed with law enforcement at the scene of the incident.

Appearing on Fox News, Capito was asked whether she supported Trump ordering the National Guard to descend on Minneapolis to curb the unrest, an idea she issued her full endorsement to.

“I think the president should do whatever he can to help deescalate the situation; if that means bringing in the National Guard, then that's what we should do,” Capito said.

“Will that escalate the situation? I think that's a calculation that the president with local authorities are gonna have to make. It's just really difficult to watch the deterioration and the allowing of all this violence to go on, the crowds to build... it's out of control!”

Trump has made several recent threats to invoke the Insurrection Act to quash ongoing protests in Minneapolis – protests sparked by the surge of federal immigration officers he’d deployed to the city in the wake of the alleged Somali fraud scandal. A 1807 law, the Insurrection Act would allow the president to deploy the U.S. military to American cities and states.

“So we need the president to heed the warnings here and help deescalate this situation as much as we can,” Capito continued. “If that means bringing in the National Guard, then I'm fully supportive of that.”