Trump has denied issuing martial law and deploying troops, calling it "fake news."

The Paper's reporter Nan Boyi intern Zeng Hong

With U.S. President-elect Joe Biden sworn in less than a month, incumbent President Trump is still seeking to overturn the election results. Recently, some US media reported that Trump is discussing plans in the White House to impose martial law by invoking the Anti-Rebellion Act of 1807 to keep himself in office. Trump himself, however, denied the report and called it "fake news."

According to CNN reported on the 20th, Michael Flynn, a former national security adviser who was recently pardoned by Trump, discussed Trump's plan to implement martial law last week when participating in a media program, and was invited to the White House on the 18th (Friday).

On the 20th, Trump said in a tweet that reports about martial law were "fake news." However, two White House insiders revealed to CNN that the president's office discussed the martial law plan on the 18th, but it is not clear how Trump will approach the plan.

For now, the White House has not commented on the report. A Justice Department spokesman declined to respond to whether the department's personnel were involved in the White House meeting. In response to Flynn's call for martial law and the deployment of troops to re-elect, senior U.S. military officials recently responded that the military will not affect the outcome of the election.

CNN pointed out that even just mentioning the idea of a martial law order is enough to incite the actual social violence in the United States, because under Trump's propaganda, many supporters believe that there is electoral fraud in the 2020 election, so their anger is easily instigated.

Elizabeth Neumann, a former assistant secretary of the Department of Homeland Security, said on CNN: "In the conservative camp that supports Trump, there are calls to use the Counterinsurgency Act to declare martial law. When they hear that the president is really thinking about it, violent extremist groups see it as a signal, an excuse to use violence. ”

According to the US political news website Politico reported on the 18th, the "Counterinsurgency Act" passed in 1807 can only be used in the extreme case of riots in the United States, which allows the president to deploy troops to suppress domestic rebellions, rather than to overturn the election results.

According to previous reports, Trump has held a meeting to inquire about the use of the military to overturn the election results and offered to appoint lawyer Sidney Powell as a special adviser to oversee the investigation into voter fraud.

Editor-in-charge: Hu Zhenqing

Proofreader: Yan Zhang