WASHINGTON: All 800 National Guard troops who were ordered to the US capital Washington to aid law enforcement personnel by President Donald Trump have now been mobilised, the Pentagon said Thursday.
Trump ordered the deployment – which follows a similar move during protests in Los Angeles in June – as part of what he billed as a crackdown on crime in Washington, where violent offences are in fact down.
“As of today, all 800 Army and Air National Guardsmen are mobilised… as part of Joint Task Force DC, and they are now here in our capital,” Pentagon press secretary Kingsley Wilson told journalists.