US National Guard troops in Washington to carry weapons
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US National Guard troops patrolling the streets of Washington will begin carrying weapons as part of what President Donald Trump says is a crackdown on crime.
The exact number of troops who would carry their weapons was fluid, but they will either carry their M17 pistols or M4 rifles, according to two officials who spoke on condition of anonymity.
Hundreds of unarmed National Guard troops have been in Washington’s streets for the past two weeks after Trump declared a crime emergency in the district. Defence Secretary Pete Hegseth last week authorised the troops to carry weapons.
An Associated Press photographer saw members of the South Carolina National Guard outside Union Station with holstered handguns.
The Guard’s Joint Task Force-DC said in a written statement that its personnel would only use force “as a last resort and solely in response to an imminent threat of death or serious bodily harm.”
Meanwhile, Trump, a Republican, has said he would probably expand his crime crackdown to Chicago, intervening in another city governed by Democrats. And he suggested the possibility of deploying troops to Democratic-run Baltimore in Maryland.
Democratic House of Representatives Minority leader Hakeem Jeffries said Trump did not have the authority to deploy troops to Chicago as the Pentagon carried out initial planning for a possible deployment.
US officials, speaking on the condition of anonymity, said there had been initial planning at the Pentagon about what a deployment of National Guard troops to Chicago would look like.
One official said the plans were part of the military’s efforts to anticipate any requests by Trump and noted senior Pentagon officials have not yet been briefed on them. It is not uncommon for the Pentagon to plan for potential deployments before formal orders are given.
Jeffries said any move to deploy troops to Chicago was an attempt by Trump to manufacture a crisis. Crime, including murders, has declined in Chicago in the last year.
“There’s no basis, no authority for Donald Trump to potentially try to drop federal troops into the city of Chicago,” Jeffries told CNN’s “State of the Union” on Sunday.
Jeffries cited comments made by JB Pritzker, the Democratic governor of Illinois, which includes Chicago, who said there was no emergency warranting the deployment of the National Guard or other military.
Levelling criticism at Democratic Governor Wes Moore over crime levels in Baltimore, Trump said he was prepared to deploy troops there, too.
In July, the Baltimore police department said there had been a double-digit reduction in gun violence compared to the previous year. The city has had 84 homicides so far this year – the fewest in over 50 years, according to the mayor.
“If Wes Moore needs help… I will send in the “troops,” which is being done in nearby DC, and quickly clean up the Crime,” Trump said on Truth Social.
Some Republican governors have sent hundreds of National Guard troops to Washington, D.C., at Trump’s request. The president has depicted the capital as being in the grip of a crime wave, although official data shows crime is down in the city.
On Sunday, Trump asserted without evidence that there was now no crime in the city and credited it to his deployment of troops and hundreds of federal law enforcement personnel.
Title 10 of the US Code, a federal law that outlines the role of the US Armed Forces, includes a provision allowing the president to deploy National Guard units to repel an invasion, to suppress a rebellion or to allow the president to execute the law.
Trump cited this provision, known as Section 12406, when he sent National Guard units to California earlier this year to counter protests, over the objections of Governor Gavin Newsom.
with AP
Reuters
