More and more Republican governors send troops of the National Guard to Washington, supporting Trump
Donald Trump. Photo: Rs / MPI / Capital Pictures / Profimedia
Hundreds of additional bands of the National Guard are heading to Washington, DC, from several states with Republican administrations, strengthening the decision of US President Donald Trump to fill with soldiers and federal agents the city led by Democrats in what he describes to be an effort to combat violent crime, reports Reuters.
Republican governors in Mississippi, Louisiana, Tennessee states have agreed to work in Washington, a few days after the similar approach to Western Virginia, South Carolina and Ohio, at the request of the Trump administration.
Trump claims that Washington is overwhelmed with violence and the number of homeless people, a description with which local officials do not agree. Federal and city statistics show that violent crime rates have decreased after the peak of 2023, although the rate of crimes in the capital remains higher than in most of the big cities in the US.
“DC has provided false figures on crime”
The Department of Justice has opened an investigation to determine if the city has manipulated statistics to make crime rates look smaller, Washington Post reported, citing anonymous sources.
On Monday, in a post on social networks, Donald Trump wrote: “DC has provided false figures on crime to create a false illusion.” The US president had made similar statements last week.
On August 11, Trump announced that he had mobilized 800 troops of the National Guard in the city and temporarily took over the police department there, a remarkable exercise of presidential power over the US capital. The federal government has also sent agents from numerous institutions, including FBI, to patrol the streets of the city.
Following a legal challenge filed by the City Prosecutor General, the administration negotiated an agreement with Mayor Muriel Bowser to keep the head of the police, Pamela Smith at the management of the department.
Trump has threatened similar operations in other cities controlled by Democrats, such as Chicago, although probably there would be more legal obstacles than in Washington, where the federal government still retains a wide supervision in accordance with American legislation.
Critics have accused the US president of making an emergency situation to gain greater control over Washington and to take the cities run by Democrats.
