Trump-Washington DC live updates: Trump deploys National Guard to Washington DC streets as mayor attacks ‘authoritarian push’ – UK Times

Here’s what White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt had to say on that theme yesterday:

Since the mayor raises it, here’s the answer to that question.

Although the District of Columbia has three electoral votes in presidential elections, it does not have voting representatives or senators in Congress and is subject to a greater degree of control than individual states.

It was created by direct order of the U.S. Constitution, which called for the formation of a federal district under the exclusive jurisdiction of Congress, a stipulation honored by the Residence Act that was adopted on July 16 1790 and brought D.C. into being to house the city of Washington.

Muriel Bowser has revived calls for the District of Columbia to become America’s 51st state in response to President Donald Trump’s move to federalize Washington’s police force.

As we’ve seen, the National Guard hit the streets on Tuesday night but, for Bowser, their presence is not necessary.

“We have seen a precipitous lessening of crime in the city, violent crime, especially after a post-Covid spike that we acknowledge, and we got after, and we drove down the numbers in 2023,” the mayor said on The Breakfast Club radio show on Tuesday.

“We reported last year the lowest level of violent crime in 30 years. So, we’re not taking our foot off the gas.

“We’re continuing to work, but we think that this action kind of plays into his narrative about cities, about using force, about being tough on crime, and I can say a little bit more about why D.C. is different, but it’s times like this when America needs to know why your nation’s capital, a place where 700,000 taxpaying Americans live, should be the 51st state.”

Rules governing the deployment of National Guard in states would restrict their ability to conduct law enforcement in most jurisdictions, John Bowden writes.

The Trump administration is reportedly considering plans to create a squad of 600 National Guard soldiers who would be ready to deploy into U.S. cities to tackle civil unrest.

As part of the “Domestic Civil Disturbance Quick Reaction Force,” troops would be equipped with weapons and riot gear, ready to deploy within an hour under the proposals, which could cost hundreds of millions of dollars, according to documents reviewed by The Washington Post.

Troops would be split in half, with 300 stationed at headquarters in Alabama and 300 in Arizona.

Rhian Lubin has the story.

The president insisted at his White House press conference on Monday that his moves to “rescue” the seat of American democracy from violent street thugs was essential, using dystopian language to portrait a bleak picture of a city over-run by murderers, muggers and carjackers.

But the offical data simply does not match up with his rhetoric.

Mayor Muriel Bowser again criticized the Trump administration’s anti-crime strategy during a virtual town hall event with local citizens on Tuesday, just as the Guard were taking to the streets..

Taking questions from residents, Bowser was asked how faith groups could help support the community, prompting her to urge residents to protect the city.

“This is a time when the community needs to jump in,” she said.

“To protect our city, to protect our autonomy, to protect our home rule.

“Get to the other side of this guy and make sure we elect a Democratic House so that we have a backstop to this authoritarian push.”

Members of the District of Columbia National Guard began their first night of operations in Washington, D.C., on Tuesday as part of President Donald Trump’s anti-crime crackdown in the nation’s capital.

Troops were seen leaving the D.C. Armory earlier Tuesday and by the evening a group of about a dozen Guard personnel stood with five parked military Humvee trucks near the Washington Monument before later departing for an unknown location.

“We just did a presence patrol to be amongst the people, to be seen,” Master Sgt. Cory Boroff, one of the Guard troops near the Monument, told The New York Times.

“Of the people, for the people in D.C.,” he added.

Officials have not disclosed the exact number of troops deployed to the streets on Tuesday as part of the president’s decision, announced on Monday, to call 800 Guard personnel to the capital to fight what he has described as rampant violent crime in Washington.

Here’s a full report from Josh Marcus.

Hello and welcome to The Independent’s live coverage of Donald Trump and his administration after the president dispatched National Guard troops to the streets to stamp out crime in Washington, D.C., which he has insisted is “out of control,” despite official data suggesting the opposite is true.