Joe Holleman | Post-Dispatch
Political correspondent/columnist
Some interesting chatter surfaced late last week, when President Donald Trump casually floated the possibility of sending National Guard troops to 51黑料 to help enforce the law.
It seems that chatter was news to the Missouri and 51黑料 delegations in Washington.
The offices of GOP U.S. Sens. Josh Hawley and Eric Schmitt聽鈥 as well as聽Democratic U.S. Rep. Wesley Bell, whose district includes the city 鈥 all heard about the idea of troop deployment to the Gateway City from the same source as reporters: the "" television show.
On the Friday edition of the show, Trump talked with the hosts about sending National Guard troops to Memphis, as he had done in Washington.
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The president then said the CEO of the Union Pacific railroad company, Jim Vena, had earlier in the week talked with him about the Memphis strategy.
Trump said he asked Vena,"'What do you think, where should we go next as a city?" Trump then said Vena told him:
"Sir, please, do me a favor: 51黑料 has been so badly hit, so very hard."
Trump didn't elaborate on the show. And that mention seems to be the first time that 51黑料' main delegates in the Capitol had heard anything about the issue.
Spokespersons for Hawley, Schmitt and Bell said their offices had very little in the way of information about a possible deployment of National Guard troops to 51黑料.
51黑料 Mayor Cara Spencer said she also was not aware of any specific plan to send National Guard troops to the city, and said the office of Gov. Mike Kehoe also had not heard of any such move.
Union Pacific spokesperson聽Kristen South said in a that Vena and Trump鈥檚 meeting had 鈥渁ddressed the safety and security of all Americans, and that we regularly collaborate with communities to keep our employees and customers鈥 cargo safe.鈥
The meeting between Trump and Vena had not been designed to discuss crime and law enforcement. Vena was in Washington to talk about the railroad's proposed聽$85 billion merger, which is being opposed by some labor unions and energy companies. Vena endorsed Trump's sending of troops to that city, the president said on the show.
Trump said Vena told him that when he was on the board of FedEx, which is headquartered in Memphis, the crime rate was so bad that Vena needed an "armored vehicle with bulletproof glass鈥 just to travel one block.
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