Anti-Trump governors scheduled briefings on National Guard ‘protections,’ ‘deployments’
FIRST ON THE DAILY SIGNAL—A coalition of Democrat governors resisting the Trump administration scheduled at least two Zoom discussions focused on how to avoid assisting National Guard “protections” and “deployments,” according to email correspondence obtained by The Daily Signal.
Executive order templates created for Democrat governors say the states “shall provide no time, money, facilities,” for any National Guard deployments if the governor doesn’t approve.
Governors Safeguarding Democracy—co-chaired by two Democrats, Illinois Gov. JB Pritzker and Colorado Gov. Jared Polis—scheduled two Zoom meetings focused on the National Guard. One was on Dec. 12, more than a month after President Donald Trump was elected. The other was scheduled for Jan. 28, a few days after Trump’s inauguration.
The Daily Signal obtained the correspondence through a public records request to the office of Connecticut Gov. Ned Lamont, a Democrat. Lamont’s office was not willing to lend his name to the launch of Governors Safeguarding Democracy.
The Jan. 28 scheduled Zoom meeting was titled, “Immigration EOs: National Guard – What Governors Need to Know” and labeled “(Confidential/Privileged).”
“All: Please join for a briefing on executive actions governors can take to protect sensitive data and prepare for potential national guard deployments,” Julia Spiegel, CEO of Governors Action Alliance, a left-leaning umbrella organization that founded both the GSD and the Reproductive Freedom Alliance, wrote in a Nov. 27 email to the staffs of Democrat governors across the country.
The Dec. 12 Zoom briefing was titled “GovAct/GSD Briefing: Sensitive Data and National Guard Protections (Confidential).”
The emails and meeting notices obtained from the Connecticut governor’s office did not specify what was entailed.
As The Daily Signal previously reported, Governors Safeguarding Democracy published a plan called “Firewall for Freedom – Template Gubernatorial Executive Order” that included model executive orders for governors to resist the Trump administration.
The model executive order on the National Guard says, “No assistance to deployments over objection of the office of the governor.” The draft order says state employees “shall provide no time, money, facilities, property, equipment, personnel, or other resources for purposes of: assistance to any National Guard unit of another state that is deployed to this state, if the Office of the Governor of [this state] has objected to such deployment.”
On immigration, the “Firewall for Freedom – Template Gubernatorial Executive Order” directs that “no state agency, employee, or agent may comply with a request for information or assistance if they have reason to believe the request is in furtherance of any investigation, arrest, prosecution, or other sanction of conduct initiated by federal authorities or out-of-state authorities.”
The “Firewall for Freedom” plan is less specific on “sensitive data.” It only says the GSD is working with governors’ offices on multiple topics that include “Securing sensitive data and records maintained by our states.”
In late April, Pritzker, the co-chairman of Governors Safeguarding Democracy, called “for mass protests, for mobilization, for disruption,” because “Republicans cannot know a moment of peace.”
Earlier this month, Pritzker was highly critical of Trump and Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem.
Polis, the other co-chairman, has played a more low-key role, criticizing Trump on policy such as tariffs.
Spokespersons for Pritzker, Polis, and Lamont did not respond to The Daily Signal for this story.
A spokesperson for Governors Safeguarding Democracy also did not respond to requests for comment.
On Nov. 11, the organization leaders emailed Lamont’s Chief of Staff Matthew Brokman to invite Lamont to join the Governors Safeguarding Democracy. Brockman declined to join in a reply the next day.
“Thank you for putting this effort together,” Brokman wrote. “However, we are not prepared to be formally listed as joining at this time. We do want to be in touch more informally about what you all are hearing/working on and issues that we are working through.”
[Editor’s note: This story originally was published by The Daily Signal.]