TROOPS TO OTHER CITIES?
The National Guard serves as a militia that answers to the governors of the 50 states except when called into federal service. The DC National Guard reports directly to the president.
Trump, who has suggested he could take similar actions in other Democratic-controlled cities, has sought to expand the powers of the presidency in his second term, inserting himself into the affairs of major banks, law firms and elite universities.
In June, Trump ordered 700 Marines and 4,000 National Guard troops to Los Angeles, against the wishes of California’s Democratic governor, during protests over mass immigration raids by federal officials.
South Carolina’s McMaster said his troops would immediately return to South Carolina if needed to respond to a possible hurricane or other natural disaster. Hurricane Erin, now northeast of Puerto Rico, has become a catastrophic Category 5 storm that could bring ocean swells to the US East Coast early next week, the US National Hurricane Center said on Saturday.
National Guard troops often respond to natural disasters and rarely police US civilians.
Drew Galang, a spokesperson for West Virginia’s Morrisey, said the state’s National Guard received the order to send equipment and personnel to DC late on Friday and was working to organise the deployment.
A White House official said on Saturday that more National Guard troops would be called in to Washington to “protect federal assets, create a safe environment for law enforcement officials to carry out their duties when required, and provide a visible presence to deter crime”.
A US official, speaking on the condition of anonymity, said a formal order was expected to go out that would authorise National Guard troops in DC to carry firearms. The official said this order would affect mostly military police officers with sidearms. Reuters has reported that the National Guard troops would have weapons nearby, such as in their vehicles.
The White House said on Saturday that DC National Guard members have conducted patrols on foot and in vehicles around the National Mall and Union Station. The White House said the National Guard troops are not making arrests now and that they may be armed.
It is not clear how the administration could deploy National Guard troops elsewhere. A federal judge in San Francisco is expected in the coming weeks to issue a ruling on whether Trump violated the law with the Los Angeles deployments.
