President Trump on Monday appeared to back off on his threat to deploy the military or take other unilateral actions to crack down on crime in liberal cities, saying it would be better to be asked by state and local officials for federal assistance.

"I was telling some of the people that in a certain way you really want to be asked to go. I hate to barge in on a city and then be treated horribly by corrupt politicians and bad politicians,” Trump told reporters in the Oval Office.

“I don’t like going to a town, city, place, a state, and then be criticized by some corrupt or incompetent governor where crime is rampant,” Trump added.

The president’s remarks came just before he signed a series of executive orders intended to intensify the federal government’s efforts to address crime in the

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