San Francisco’s top cop suggested she’d consider bringing excessive force or other charges against troops deployed by Donald Trump to her city, an unprecedented and legally questionable move as the conflict between the president and Democrats in California escalates.

Brooke Jenkins, the city’s district attorney and a moderate Democrat, told Playbook, “If I believe, and have conviction, that we can meet our burden and charges are appropriate, that I won’t hesitate to do so.”

Jenkins’ remarks come as officials in San Francisco brace for the possibility that Trump could send National Guard troops into the city after the president reupped his threat for the umpteenth time.

But this time is different. His warning Wednesday was singularly focused on the City by the Bay, and it came on the heels of Salesforce CEO Marc Benioff saying he would support Trump sending in the Guard. (Benioff later walked it back; Salesforce did not respond to request for comment.)

Jenkins is at the center of the crisis. She has publicly disavowed Benioff and implored the Trump administration not to intervene, a move she said would sow chaos. Noting that a mobilized National Guard is often coupled with a ramp-up of immigration enforcement, she has signaled openness to pursuing charges if federal agents use excessive force or break other local laws — a move that would be unprecedented among the nation’s district attorneys and would face major legal hurdles. (A spokesperson for the Department of Homeland Security did not respond to a request for comment.)

POLITICO spoke with Jenkins on Wednesday, hours after Trump made his remarks. Highlights from their conversation, which has been edited for length and clarity:

Are you worried that Trump is getting closer to actually deploying troops?

I’m certainly more concerned given his comments today. Prior to his remarks, we’ve been on a list of various cities that he seemed to have his eye on, and we weren’t really at the top of that list, either. Today, it seems, he is given an instruction that we should be moved up into the next phase.

Do you think Benioff’s comments played a role in egging Trump on?

Absolutely, I believe that that is the only thing that has brought San Francisco into his focus right now, at this moment in time. We have not given him any reason to say that we should be again prioritized in line for the National Guard. There is no secret that Mr. Benioff is now a supporter of President Trump, and that they likely have some level of communication.

We have not seen any prosecutor in the counties that have been affected filing things like excessive force charges against Guard troops or federal agents. How realistic do you think those types of cases could be?

It’s complex, not only from a legal standpoint. But there has to be an arrest that takes place of an agent, which requires an intermediary set by another law enforcement agency. And so those are things that we will be fleshing through. But we have to make clear to our residents where we stand. This is about me being clear to them that if there is a provable case, that I am not going to hesitate to move forward, regardless of how difficult that hurdle may be. If I believe, and have conviction, that we can meet our burden and charges are appropriate, that I won’t hesitate to do so.

You emphasized the need to tell residents where you stand on this issue. But Mayor Daniel Lurie has been reticent to talk about Trump or National Guard deployments. Are you and the mayor on the same page?

We were in constant communication over the course of the weekend. I think the mayor stands firm with me that we want to focus on San Francisco ourselves. We have both been committed, since the start of our terms, to providing public safety on the streets of San Francisco. He has been focused on ensuring that we do what we can to prevent this from happening. I come from the vantage point of having an immigrant father, of being half El Salvadorian. I feel that I have a moral obligation to ensure that communities across San Francisco hear my voice.

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