Voice For Liberty

Fact-Check: President Trump’s Claims About the Insurrection Act

Bob Weeks

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President Trump’s statements about the Insurrection Act during the October 31, 2025, interview with Norah O’Donnell contained multiple significant factual errors.

Assistance from Claude AI.

The interview was conducted by CBS News correspondent Norah O’Donnell on October 31, 2025, at Mar-a-Lago and aired on 60 Minutes on November 2, 2025. The full transcript is publicly available through CBS News.

Evaluation of Claims

Claim 1: Percentage of Presidents Who Used the Act

Trump’s Statement: “Almost 50% of [presidents have used the Insurrection Act].”

Verdict: FALSE

Only 17 of the 45 presidents who have served (approximately 37%) have officially invoked the Insurrection Act, which is significantly below Trump’s claim of “almost 50%.” This discrepancy represents an exaggeration of roughly 35% in the proportion of presidents who have used this authority.

Source: PolitiFact (2025)

Claim 2: Frequency of Use by Individual Presidents

Trump’s Statement: “Some of the presidents, recent ones, have used it 28 times.”

Verdict: COMPLETELY FALSE

This claim is nowhere near accurate. President Ulysses S. Grant holds the record for most frequent invocations, having used the act on six occasions during the 1870s amid post-Civil War reconstruction and White supremacist violence. Three other presidents—Grover Cleveland, John F. Kennedy, and Lyndon B. Johnson—each invoked the act three times.

No president has come close to invoking the Insurrection Act 28 times, and certainly no “recent” president has done so. This represents a factual error of more than 450%.

Source: CNN (2025)

Claim 3: Routine Use of the Act

Trump’s Statement: “The Insurrection Act has been used routinely by presidents.”

Verdict: MISLEADING

The characterization of the Insurrection Act as being used “routinely” is inaccurate. The act has been invoked approximately 30 times over more than 230 years of American history, with the most recent use occurring in 1992—over three decades ago.

Given that the act has been used on average less than once every eight years, and not at all in the past 33 years, describing its use as “routine” mischaracterizes the historical pattern of presidential restraint in deploying military forces domestically.

Sources: Brennan Center for Justice; Newsweek (2025)

Claim 4: Scope of Presidential Authority

While Trump did not explicitly claim unlimited authority in the quoted excerpt, his phrasing implied broad discretion. Legal experts confirm that while the Insurrection Act grants presidents “tremendous discretion” that is “very heavily weighted on his side,” it is “categorically false” that courts could not review such an invocation.

Courts would examine whether statutory requirements were met and whether constitutional rights were violated, though historically they have been deferential to presidential use of the act.

Source: CNN (2025), quoting Syracuse University law professor William Banks

The Interview Excerpt

NORAH O’DONNELL: But when you say, “Send in more than the National Guard,” what does that mean?

PRESIDENT DONALD TRUMP: Well, more would be Army, Navy, Air Force, Marines.

NORAH O’DONNELL: So you’re gonna send the military into American cities?

PRESIDENT DONALD TRUMP: Well, if I wanted to I could, if I want to use the Insurrection Act. Do you know how many presidents–

NORAH O’DONNELL: Will you– what would be the–

PRESIDENT DONALD TRUMP: No, no.

NORAH O’DONNELL: What would– what would cause you to do that?

PRESIDENT DONALD TRUMP: Do you know how many presidents have used the Insurrection Act?

NORAH O’DONNELL: Tell me.

PRESIDENT DONALD TRUMP: Almost 50% of ’em. Do you know that some of the presidents, recent ones, have used it 28 times? Twenty-eight times. The Insurrection Act has been used routinely by presidents. I haven’t chosen to use it, but if I– because I’ve done well without it. But if I needed it, I could do it. And if I needed it, that would mean I could bring in the Army, the Marines, I could bring in whoever I want. But I haven’t chosen to use it. I hope you give me credit for that.

Historical Context

The Insurrection Act has been employed in specific, extraordinary circumstances throughout American history. Notable uses include:

  • President Eisenhower’s deployment of federal troops to enforce school desegregation in Little Rock, Arkansas
  • President Kennedy’s federalization of Mississippi’s National Guard during university integration
  • President George H.W. Bush’s response to the 1992 Los Angeles riots following the Rodney King verdict

These invocations generally occurred in situations involving civil unrest, rebellion, or state resistance to federal authority—circumstances that legal scholars note differ substantially from using the act for routine law enforcement in cities.

Conclusion

President Trump’s statements about the Insurrection Act during the October 31, 2025, interview with Norah O’Donnell contained multiple significant factual errors:

  1. His claim that almost 50% of presidents have used the act overstates the actual figure by approximately 35%
  2. His assertion that some presidents have used it 28 times is completely without factual basis, with the highest number of uses by any president being six
  3. Characterizing the act’s use as “routine” contradicts the historical record of sparse and circumstance-specific invocations

These inaccuracies are significant because they relate to a consequential presidential power involving the domestic deployment of military forces.

Sources


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