Trump Orders National Guard to Washington and Takeover of Capital Police

On Monday, President Trump made a big push to take control of the nation's capital by temporarily taking over the police department and sending 800 National Guard troops to tackle crime there.

“There will be about 800 Soldiers activated.  During this activation, between 100-200 Soldiers will be supporting law enforcement at any given time,” the statement said. “Their duties will include an array of tasks from administrative, logistics and physical presence in support of law enforcement.”

At a press conference with Trump on Monday, Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth announced that the Guard will start coming to DC this week.

President Donald Trump said today that defense authorities may go ahead and activate the National Guard members. The troops will be in a Title 32 status, which means that they are being paid by the federal government but are under local control. Troops in Title 32 status are also not subject to the Posse Comitatus Act, which prohibits US service members from partaking in law enforcement activities.

The Trump administration ordered around 5,000 federal troops to Southern California in early June, even though Gov. Gavin Newsom didn't want them there. They said it was because of protests against immigration sweeps in the area. The deployment was fraught with problems and lawsuits from the start, and a three-day trial began Monday in San Francisco federal court for a suit by state officials to end the activation.