3 Republican-led states to send National Guard troops to Washington

The National Guard’s presence in Washington will grow in the coming days after the governors of West Virginia, South Carolina and Ohio announced on Aug 16 that they would send troops from their states’ National Guard at President Donald Trump’s request.

Governor Patrick Morrisey of West Virginia said the state would send 300 to 400 troops to support Mr Trump’s “initiative to restore cleanliness and safety to Washington, DC”.

Governor Henry McMaster pledged to send 200 troops, saying “South Carolina is proud to stand with President Trump as he works to restore law and order to our nation’s capital”.

Governor Mike DeWine of Ohio said 150 troops would arrive in the capital in “the coming days”.

All three governors are Republicans.

A White House official confirmed that additional National Guard troops were being called in to Washington, reiterating that their role was to protect federal assets and provide a visible presence.

The 800 already-deployed troops

all come from the DC National Guard, which the president can call out directly.

Governors typically control the National Guard in their states, though Mr Trump circumvented this when he deployed troops to Los Angeles this summer, a matter currently under litigation in federal court.

The commitment of some 700 troops from West Virginia, South Carolina and Ohio means that in the coming days, the total number of National Guard troops in DC will nearly double.

National Guard troops have been called out on the streets of Washington before, including in a deployment in 2020 during the protests after the killing of George Floyd.

But this stationing of military personnel in the city during otherwise ordinary times has drawn significant criticism – possibly more so than some of the administration’s other actions this past week, such as the President’s unprecedented step of directing the actions of the Metropolitan Police Department. NYTIMES