Amid his campaign to militarize the streets of Washington, President Donald Trump has asked Republican governors to send their National Guard to the nation’s capital. Some have said yes, but one has said no.
Vermont Gov. Phil Scott, a Republican but not traditionally allied with Trump, “politely declined” the request, Vermont Public reported.
“While public safety is a legitimate concern in cities across the country and certainly in the nation’s capital, in the absence of an immediate emergency or disaster that local and regional first responders are unable to handle, the governor just does not support utilizing the guard for this purpose, and does not view the enforcement of domestic law as a proper use of the National Guard,” Jason Gibbs, Scott’s chief of staff, said in a statement on Friday.
“Republican Gov. Phil Scott has ‘politely declined’ a federal request to deploy Vermont National Guard soldiers to Washington, D.C. as part of President Donald Trump’s controversial directive to tamp down on crime.”https://t.co/CwLOI2VxAZ
— Steve Lookner (@lookner) August 17, 2025
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“But in this case, because it is being hyperpoliticized, the governor doesn’t feel like — and I believe the vast majority of Vermonters don’t feel like — it would be an acceptable and appropriate use of the National Guard,” the chief of staff added.
According to the report, the Vermont governor had also rejected an earlier request from the Pentagon for a small number of Vermont Army National Guard troops to contribute personnel for a nontraditional purpose. Scott had declined a request to “perform administrative duties at detention facilities operated by U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement.”
A group of former national security personnel wrote a letter to Scott, thanking him for “representing a troubling blurring of lines between civilian law enforcement and military responsibilities,” Vermont Public reported.
“By rejecting the Department of Defense’s request to activate the Vermont Army National Guard as an inappropriate use of military resources, you stood up for the security of Vermonters and the healthy civil-military relationship envisioned by our nation’s founders,” the letter said.
While he has been a Republican for his entire time as governor of the blue state of Vermont, Scott has never endorsed Trump in any of his campaigns. Last September, he made clear that he was not voting for Trump, although he stopped short of endorsing Kamala Harris. He has also said that he voted for Joe Biden against Trump in 2020, although he called for Biden to drop out of the race in July of 2024.
Photo courtesy of the official photo of Gov. Phil Scott.
