Tom Cotton: Democrat mayors and governors 'playing politics with the lives of their citizens'

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Sen. Tom Cotton, R-Ark., blasted Democratic leaders for “politicizing” the deployment of federal agents in cities stricken by riots and rampant violence, pushing back on accusations that President Trump is playing politics with the issue.

“It's these mayors and these governors who are the ones who are politicizing the lives and the property of their citizens by refusing to allow their police to protect innocent civilians, by refusing to either call out the National Guard or to cooperate with the Department of Justice in the Department of Homeland Security to get this surge and crime under control,” Cotton told the “Fox News Rundown" podcast.

"They are the ones that are playing politics with the lives of their citizens."

HOURS AFTER CHICAGO MASS SHOOTING, 2 KILLED IN SEPARATE INCIDENTS

Meanwhile, President Trump is deploying 100 federal agents to Chicago to help combat rising rates of some crimes – a move that marks an expansion of the White House’s intervention into local law enforcement as Trump continues to position himself as the “law and order” president.

The "surge" of agents announced on Wednesday to Chicago and other American cities is part of Operation Legend – named after 4-year-old LeGend Taliaferro, who was fatally shot while sleeping in a Kansas City apartment late last month – and comes as federal law enforcement officers have already been deployed to Portland, Ore., and Kansas City, Mo.

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“The effort to shut down police in their own communities has led to a shocking explosion of shootings, killing, violence, murders,” Trump said during a speech in the White House’s East Room. “This rampage of violence shocks the conscience of our nation and we will not stand by and watch it happen.”

Cotton said the deployment of federal agents "is a response to the crime that we see in our cities, which has no doubt surged in the last several weeks.

"Now, I hope that it gets under control. I hope this is not the beginning of a new crime wave like we saw in the 60s and 70s and 80s. But it always might be. We don't know what the future will hold," he said, adding that police across the United States were able to reduce crime throughout the 1990s and early 2000s.

"I think in many cases, these radicals on the left have a bit of historical amnesia. They think just because crime was low a few years ago, crime is always going to be low. But if the police are not allowed to do their job, if prosecutors will not do their job and put criminals behind bars, I can assure you that crime will be surging back rapidly in our country."

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Cotton said that the “venerable” Insurrection Act is important to keeping Americans safe during troubled times, being used repeatedly throughout history for the president to use active duty, federal troops, to restore order where necessary.

“It was used by President Eisenhower in Little Rock in 1957. It was used as recently as President Bush in 1991 and in 1992 during the L.A. riots,” Cotton said.

“Now, federal troops should be the final line of defense. Local law enforcement should be allowed by mayors to protect their communities, to defend lives, to protect property. If that doesn't work, then governors have the power to call out the National Guard, as many did last month, which finally helped restore order in Minnesota or in Washington, where the National Guard is subject to the control of the federal government.”