Trump presides over long Cabinet meeting on crime and federal power

President Donald Trump on Tuesday presided over a televised White House Cabinet meeting that ran about three hours and 17 minutes and featured effusive praise from aides, a tense exchange on public safety and a personal anecdote from a reporter about being attacked on Washington streets. The session, held in the Cabinet Room, combined policy remarks with extended adulation of the president and discussion of his plans to use federal resources in cities he described as dangerous.

Mr. Trump repeatedly framed crime as a central political issue and said he believed he had broad authority to act. "I have the right to do anything I want to do," he told those gathered when discussing the potential deployment of federal forces, according to participants. He later said he was not a dictator, while asserting that if he thought cities were in danger he could send troops. He also said crime would be a major topic for next year's midterm elections.

Cabinet members and other attendees offered a string of public compliments and policy talking points. Secretary of State Marco Rubio drew laughs when he called the holiday weekend "the most meaningful Labor Day of my life, as someone with four...