The Trump administration plans to deploy one other 500 members of the Nationwide Guard to the streets of Washington, D.C., Protection Secretary Pete Hegseth introduced Wednesday, hours after two service members were shot just a few blocks away from the White Home.
Hegseth told reporters that President Trump ordered the extra deployment. A U.S. official confirmed to CBS Information that the Military has acquired the request and can work to satisfy it rapidly.
The five hundred further service members will be part of roughly 2,200 troops who had been deployed in D.C. as of Sunday morning. That features round 900 members of the D.C. Nationwide Guard and greater than 1,200 members of a number of states’ Guard forces, in accordance with a press launch from the army’s Joint Activity Drive – District of Columbia.
It is not clear when the five hundred further troops will arrive within the nation’s capital, or whether or not they’ll come from the D.C. Nationwide Guard or from a state’s Nationwide Guard pressure.
Hegseth made the announcement after two members of the West Virginia Nationwide Guard had been shot in an assault within the capital. At a briefing, FBI Director Kash Patel mentioned the 2 Guard members are in important situation. Native police say a suspect is in custody and is being handled at a hospital.
“This can solely stiffen our resolve to make sure that we make Washington, D.C., secure and exquisite,” Hegseth informed reporters on Wednesday.
Nationwide Guard forces had been initially deployed to the streets of D.C. in August, a part of an anti-crime mission by the Trump administration that has additionally included federal regulation enforcement officers and native police.
D.C. Legal professional Basic Brian Schwalb has sued over the deployment, calling it unlawful. A federal choose dominated final week that the deployment doubtless violates federal regulation, however delayed the ruling for 21 days because the Trump administration appeals.
