President Trump said Wednesday that he wants the National Guard to remain in Washington indefinitely, insisting they’ve made the city safer.
“We’re going to keep them,” Mr. Trump said of the National Guard service members during a Cabinet meeting at the White House.
Mr. Trump then turned to Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth and said, “Keep them and don’t lower the number, either.”
“They look great,” Mr. Trump said of the National Guard troops, asserting that they took out 5,000 “hardcore criminals.”
Mr. Hegseth noted there will be a surge in troops in Washington this summer.
The Trump administration earlier this month requested another 1,500 National Guard troops deployed to Washington as part of a “summer surge” to patrol the capital ahead of America’s 250th birthday.
The additional 1,500 guard members would bring the total of National Guard service members to 5,000. The administration has also asked for more U.S. Park Police on foot, in vehicles and on horseback throughout Washington.
National Guard troops were deployed last summer when the federal government temporarily took over law enforcement in the nation’s capital through Mr. Trump’s executive order. An additional 500 troops were deployed in the city after two West Virginia National Guard members were shot — one of them fatally — in the city in late November.
Democratic city officials and federal lawmakers have argued that the guard members are unnecessary and have inflamed tensions throughout Washington.
Sens. Andy Kim of New Jersey and Gary Peters of Michigan, both Democrats, released a report in February estimating that the National Guard deployment to Washington costs taxpayers $1.65 million per day.
