The US military is preparing to activate hundreds of National Guard members in Washington, the US capital, two US officials told Reuters.
The officials, who spoke on the condition of anonymity, stated that the final decision has yet to be made by US President Donald Trump, but that the soldiers are ready for deployment.
One of the officials said it was unclear exactly what the soldiers would do, but they could participate in efforts to protect federal agents or even perform administrative tasks to free up resources for law enforcement officials.
The order to deploy them to Washington was announced by Trump, who spoke of the “terrible situation” in the US capital.
Trump spoke about the problems with crime and the high number of homeless people in Washington, and hinted that, as he had previously done in Los Angeles, he would activate the National City.
However, legal experts from the USA remind us that Washington, that is, the District of Columbia, has a special status that cannot be compared to a federal state.
In other words, it is not entirely clear whether Trump has the right to activate the National Guard troops in Washington, where local authorities and the US Congress have the final say.
Due to the activation of the troops in Los Angeles, several legal processes have already been initiated, and there have been political tensions between the White House and California Governor Gavin Newsom, and other politicians from the Democratic Party.
