Steve Bannon Hopes Donald Trump Is 'Prepared to Do What He's Being Accused Of'

Steve Bannon said on Friday that he hopes President Donald Trump and his team are "prepared to do what he's being accused of" on Election Day. The War Room host was reacting to a Democratic senator's warning that Trump might send ICE agents, the Army and the Marines into American communities.

"I would hope that the people around the president and the president are prepared to do what he's being accused of. I think that's gonna be absolutely necessary," Bannon said. "They're gonna try to steal this."

The line is ambiguous. Bannon did not say what he expected Trump to do, and he did not call for troops at polling places. Read alongside his claim that Democrats are "gonna try to steal this," he may have meant a federal response to fraud or unrest rather than a deployment on Election Day itself. But the accusation he was answering was specific: ICE agents, the Marines and the Army, sent into communities as voters go to the polls.

What Ed Markey Said

The clip Bannon played came from a joint interview Massachusetts Democratic Senator Ed Markey gave GBH News and Boston 25 News this week, according to Boston.com. In the clip, Markey said Trump "has talked openly about deploying ICE agents on election day" and about "invoking the Insurrection Act, deploying the Marines and the Army."

His call to action was conditional. "If the president, for example, on Friday before the election activates the Marines, the Army, and ICE, and is sending them into communities across the country, then we have to be ready over that weekend to just start to rise up," Markey said. He added that lawyers were "already drafting the emergency case to be brought to the Supreme Court" and that "we have to be ready on election day to have a national strike."

John Deaton, Markey's Republican challenger, called the remarks "reckless and dangerous," saying a senator "should be lowering the temperature, not calling for a national strike." Markey leads Deaton by 27.6 points in PolitiKool's polling average.

Lara Logan Calls It a 'Veiled Threat'

Bannon's guest, former CBS News correspondent Lara Logan, described Markey's remarks as "a shaping operation" meant to "box the president in."

"This is a veiled threat," Logan said. She argued that Democrats were preparing a response "if the president uses any of the power that is available to him in the constitution that is lawful and legal," and said "they're gonna box Trump in so we can't use the National Guard or the Insurrection Act."

Logan also cited indicators she said she could not discuss on the show, saying she knew "there are people that are activated" and "there are people that are watching this very closely." She did not say who those people were.

What Federal Law Allows on Election Day

Whatever Trump is or is not "prepared" to do, federal law sets limits on troops near polling places. One statute makes it a crime for anyone in federal civil or military service to bring "troops or armed men" to a polling place "unless such force be necessary to repel armed enemies of the United States" (18 U.S.C. 592). Another bars members of the armed forces from interfering with voters or election officers (18 U.S.C. 593), and a third forbids military officers to "interfere with the freedom of any election" (52 U.S.C. 10102).

The Insurrection Act governs when a president may use the military at home. Before doing so, he must formally order the insurgents to disperse by proclamation (10 U.S.C. 254).

What the Administration Has Said

The administration has denied any plan to put ICE at the polls. In February, Heather Honey, a Homeland Security Department official focused on election integrity, said that "any suggestion that ICE is going to be present at polling places is simply disinformation," NHPR reported.

What Happens Next

Polls open on Tuesday. Trump's approval stands at 37.6 percent in PolitiKool's polling average. Bannon said he and Logan would "drill down on this deeper on Monday." Bannon did not say what would count as the trigger he is preparing for. Markey did: the president activating the Marines, the Army and ICE and sending them into communities on the Friday before the election.