Trump mobilized 800 members of the guard and ordered the city's Metropolitan Police Department be brought under the control of the Justice Department. White House officials said between 100 and 200 troops would provide administrative and logistical support to local law enforcement at any given time,

Washington DC Mayor Muriel Bowser, a Democrat, who has denied crime is out of control in her city, described the troop deployment as an "authoritarian push". Trump, a Republican, has also threatened similar deployments against New York and Chicago, two other Democratic-controlled cities.