Former President Donald Trump is calling for the National Guard or U.S. military to be deployed on Election Day to handle “the enemy from within.”

The Republican presidential nominee made the comment during an interview on Fox News.

In describing the internal enemy, he cited “radical left lunatics” and Rep. Adam Schiff, D-Calif., who led Trump’s first impeachment trial. He said the enemy from within is worse than migrants who are “destroying our country” or foreign adversaries such as China and Russia.

“We have some very bad people,” Trump said. “We have some sick people, radical left lunatics. And I think they're the big – and it should be very easily handled by, if necessary, by National Guard, or if really necessary, by the military, because they can't let that happen.”

The Posse Comitatus Act, passed in 1878, bars federal troops from participating in civilian law enforcement activities unless expressly authorized by the Constitution or Congress. The Insurrection Act of 1807 allows a president to deploy military forces within the U.S. to suppress a rebellion or domestic violence. A state can authorize its National Guard to act in a law enforcement capacity.

Trump continues to make false claims that widespread fraud cost him the 2020 election, and he has suggested, without evidence, Democrats may try to cheat in next month’s election. Last month, he threatened to prosecute anyone “involved in unscrupulous behavior” related to the election, including lawyers, political operatives, donors, illegal voters and election officials.

In a statement, Steven Cheung, Trump campaign communications director, said, "President Trump is 100% correct—those who seek to undermine democracy by sowing chaos in our elections are a direct threat, just like the terrorist from Afghanistan that was arrested for plotting multiple attacks on Election Day within the United States."

Cheung was referring to the arrest of Nasir Ahmad Tawhedi, 27, an Afghan national living in Oklahoma City who was charged with conspiring to conduct an Election Day terror attack on behalf of the Islamic State. 

The campaign of Vice President Kamala Harris, Trump’s opponent next month, said the former president’s comments are the latest in a trend that suggests he’ll seek to wield unprecedented power if elected.

“Donald Trump is suggesting that his fellow Americans are worse ‘enemies’ than foreign adversaries, and he is saying he would use the military against them,” Ian Sams, a senior campaign adviser, said in a statement. “Taken with his vow to be a dictator on ‘day one,’ calls for the ‘termination’ of the Constitution, and plans to surround himself with sycophants who will give him unchecked, unprecedented power if he returns to office, this should alarm every American who cares about their freedom and security. What Donald Trump is promising is dangerous, and returning him to office is simply a risk Americans cannot afford.”

Trump also has vowed to deploy the military to crack down on drug cartels trafficking drugs past the U.S.-Mexico border and use the National Guard to deport migrants.

And, while running for a second term, he has said he would have "every right" to use the justice system to go after his political enemies and has called for members of the House committee that investigated the Jan. 6, 2021, attack on the Capitol to be indicted.

In the Fox interview, Trump, whose supporters stormed the Capitol as Congress met to certify Joe Biden’s election victory, downplayed any threat of Election Day violence coming from his voters.

“No, I don’t think — not from the side that votes for Trump,” he said when asked if he was expecting any chaos Nov. 5.