WASHINGTON — President Donald Trump Monday directed Tennessee’s National Guard deployed to the Democratic-led city of Memphis, following similar actions in the District of Columbia that Trump has said were needed to tackle crime.

“We’re going to make Memphis safe again,” Trump said.

It’s the latest test of Trump’s presidential powers in using the U.S. military domestically, despite a law that bars soldiers from partaking in local law enforcement. Trump said his efforts in the district – using the National Guard – would be replicated in cities across the country.

In the Oval Office, flanked by Tennessee’s GOP Gov. Bill Lee and the state’s Republican U.S. senators, Bill Hagerty and Marsha Blackburn, the president signed a presidential memorandum to establish a “Memphis Safe Task Force”

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