CNN’s Kaitlan Collins speaks with Maryland Democratic Gov. Wes Moore about President Donald Trump’s latest comments about crime in Baltimore and whether Trump can order deployment of the National Guard in his state.

Maryland

Maryland's governor addressed recent comments made by President Trump regarding Baltimore, rejecting the president's characterization of the city and highlighting significant reductions in violent crime. The governor credited these improvements to investments in law enforcement, technology, and community partnerships.

He also responded to the possibility of federal intervention, stating that as the commander in chief of the Maryland National Guard, he would not authorize its deployment unless it was mission critical or aligned with state priorities. The governor emphasized the constitutional limits on federal authority and invited the president to visit Baltimore to better understand the situation.

Maryland governor’s message to Trump on deploying National Guard

What is your response to the president calling Baltimore, as he put it there, a hellhole? Well, the president seems to be obsessed with me. You know, today he called me a beauty. And when I first met him, he just talked about how I was a good-looking guy. And now he just continues to make statements that are just flat-out false about our state's largest city. The reality is that when I first became the governor, Baltimore in 2022 had about a homicide a day. Now, in the past two and a half years, Baltimore and the state of Maryland have had amongst the fastest drops in violent crime anywhere in the United States. The last time the homicide rate was this low in Baltimore City, I was not born yet. And we have done it by making historic investments in law enforcement, by making historic investments in predictive technologies. And we've done it by actually working with the mayor, working with the state's attorney, working with community violence intervention groups and working with the community to be able to ensure that people can feel safer in their neighborhoods. And the thing is that we know we have more work to do, but we're not going to be performative or cynical about the way we are doing it and not taking the approach that the president of the United States seems to be taking about making people safe in communities. What are you going to do if he sends in the National Guard to Baltimore, though? I mean, we've seen other governors try to fight it, like in California, Governor Newsom. And, you know, losing, they lost that battle in court. Well, I'm very, very clear. I am the commander in chief of the Maryland National Guard, not him. And the Constitution authorizes that. And so the Maryland National Guard moves on the authority of the commander in chief. And I will not authorize the Maryland National Guard to be activated for something that is either not mission critical or mission aligned. And I think what the president of the United States is doing is it is not sustainable. It is not scalable. And it's also not constitutional, that it is a direct violation of the 10th Amendment. And even if he wants to talk about other things he can do to try to activate, the reality is, is that he still needs states to be able to invite the federal government to come on board to be able to do that. And the thing that gets me most about this is how deeply disrespectful this is to members of the National Guard, who signed up for this job, as I did when I deployed overseas, and I led paratroopers in combat, where we signed up with the expectation that the commander in chief and the people who was who was declaring our orders was actually taking it seriously. And the problem is, we are seeing a lack of seriousness from the president of the United States to a very serious situation. And that's why I invited him to come to Baltimore, to come be educated, to come learn, so he does not to spout nonsense from the Oval Office and things that are just blatantly not true about what is actually happening and the work that's happening in coordination to make people feel safer in their neighborhoods.

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