More National Guard troops are expected in D.C. starting Wednesday, the White House says, as Mayor Muriel Bowser pushes back against President Donald Trump’s depiction of the city.
Wednesday night will see a significantly higher National Guard presence on the ground in the District, a White House official told NBC News. Operations will then begin 24/7, instead of mostly at night, the official said.
White House touts over 100 arrests in under a week
The White House began deploying officers from a long list of federal law enforcement agencies onto the streets of D.C. last Thursday. Federal law enforcement officers and agents have made 103 total arrests since then, the White House said.
The charges over that six-day period include:
- 1 homicide charge
- 7 narcotics charges
- 33 firearms charges
- 10 warrants served
- 23 undocumented immigrants
- 29 other charges
The White House added that 24 firearms have been seized since Thursday night.
No details were given about which agents or officers made arrests. The White House also said that 750 Metropolitan Police Department officers were involved in the operation on Tuesday night.
The White House has said that National Guard troops will not make arrests.
‘We’re not some hellscape’
In an interview with News4 on Tuesday and later in a virtual town hall for D.C. residents, Bowser pushed back on Trump’s characterization of Washington, D.C.
“We also have to tell the truth about our city,” Bowser told News4’s Mark Segraves in that interview. “We’re not some hellscape. We’re a beautiful city.”
Only on News4, Bowser explained how the city is collaborating with the Trump administration amid frustrations over the city’s “autonomy being trampled on.” Also on The News4 Rundown: Teens react to President Trump federalizing D.C. police.
“We don’t live in a dirty city,” she said at the town hall. “We are not 700,000 scumbags and punks. And we don’t have neighborhoods that should be bulldozed. So we have to be clear about our story, who we are.”
What does it look like in DC?
Defense officials tell NBC News that the National Guard troops will be engaged in security, crowd and perimeter control, and communications support, to assist D.C. police and federal law enforcement in fighting crime.
Those officials added that the National Guard will not be arresting, searching people or performing direct law enforcement. The troops will not be armed, in most cases.
News4 video from the ground in D.C. on Tuesday showed Humvees and D.C. National Guard soldiers stationed along the National Mall — just a portion of the 100-200 expected to patrol in the District at any given time.
On Tuesday night, 30 National Guard troops were on the ground, the White House said.
News4’s Jackie Bensen reported that the number of troops and federal officers was small enough relative to the size of the city that “you’re not coming across them everywhere, and they’re changing locations hourly.”
Still, Bensen said far fewer people than normal were out — even in the tourist and restaurant areas of the District, on a nice summer night.
(Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by PostX News and is published from a syndicated feed.)
