WATCH: Trump was 'simply joking' about canceling the election, Leavitt says

Asked about a comment President Donald Trump made earlier this week about canceling U.S. midterm elections, White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt said "he was speaking facetiously."

Watch Leavitt's remarks in the video player above.

"The president was simply joking," Leavitt said. "He was saying, we're doing such a great job, we are doing everything the American people thought, maybe we should just keep rolling. "

Leavitt also said at Thursday's press briefing that "only" Trump could say what might push him to invoke the 1807 Insurrection Act.

READ MORE: Trump threatens to use Insurrection Act to put down protests in Minneapolis

Leavitt described the law a "a tool at the president's disposal" that has been used "sparingly" by Trump's predecessors.

Earlier Thursday, Trump threatened to invoke the act and deploy troops to quell persistent protests against the federal officers sent to Minneapolis to enforce his administration's massive immigration crackdown.

The threat came a day after a man was shot and wounded by an immigration officer who had been attacked with a shovel and broom handle.

That shooting further heightened the fear and anger that has radiated across the city since an Immigration and Customs Enforcement agent fatally shot Renee Good in the head.

Leavitt said that Democrats who had "held their state and local law enforcement hostage" and told them not to cooperate with federal authorities were "deranged in their hatred for President Trump.