A steady stream of uniformed soldiers arrived at the national guard headquarters in Washington on Tuesday for deployment that evening to fight crime in the nation’s capital.
Donald Trump’s deployment of the 800-strong force has been described by Democrats as political theater. With Trump threatening to replicate the move in other big cities, Democrats point to statistics showing that violent crime in Washington has dropped to historic lows in the past two years.
About 850 officers and agents took part in a “massive law enforcement surge” across Washington DC on Monday night and made nearly two dozen arrests, the White House said on Tuesday.
Press secretary Karoline Leavitt told reporters, “this is only the beginning. Over the course of the next month, the Trump administration will relentlessly pursue and arrest every violent criminal in the district who breaks the law, undermines public safety and endangers law-abiding Americans.”
Trump’s intervention has been widely condemned as an authoritarian power grab that undermines the autonomy of Washington’s DC local government and seeks to distract attention from political problems such as the Jeffrey Epstein files.
National guard arrives in DC as mayors warn of Trump power grab
Muriel Bowser, the mayor of Washington DC, has pledged to work “side by side” with the federal government as national guard troops arrive at their headquarters in the capital.
The show of force came after Donald Trump announced that he was sending the national guard into the capital and putting city police under federal control, even though the violent crime rate is at a 30-year low.
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Trump could expand role of national guard for ‘quick reaction’ to unrest
Donald Trump could expand the use of national guard troops in US cities even further, if a plan from the Pentagon comes to fruition.
The Washington Post, reporting on internal documents on Tuesday, says Pentagon officials are “evaluating plans” to create a “Domestic Civil Disturbance Quick Reaction Force” that would deploy to crack down on cities in events of unrest or during protests.
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Doge allowed to access social security numbers and other data
A US appeals court on Tuesday rejected a bid by a group of unions to block the Trump administration government downsizing team known as the “department of government efficiency” (Doge) from accessing sensitive data on Americans.
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Possible Covid outbreak at ‘Alligator Alcatraz’
An outbreak of a respiratory disease, possibly Covid-19, is running rampant through the remote Florida immigration jail known as “Alligator Alcatraz”, according to the attorney of an infected detainee removed from the camp last week.
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New labor official has history of racist, sexist posts
A newly appointed official at the US Department of Labor hired by the Trump administration has a recent history of racist, sexually graphic, and conspiratorial posts on social media.
Jessico Bowman was appointed deputy chief of staff of the Bureau of International Labor Affairs at the labor department, which is to lead “the US Department of Labor’s efforts to ensure that workers around the world are treated fairly and are able to share in the benefits of the global economy”. She has deleted her account on X and Facebook accounts since announcing her hiring.
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DoJ: university violated law over Jewish students and faculty
Donald Trump’s administration says it has determined that George Washington University has violated federal civil rights law, making it the latest higher educational institution to be targeted by the White House over last spring’s campus protests against Israeli military strikes in Gaza.
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What else happened today:
Catching up? Here’s what happened on 11 August 2025.
