Donald Trump has deployed the National Guard in Washington and taken control of the city’s police force, in the latest display of presidential power in cities across the US.
The president on Monday declared “a public safety emergency” in the US capital and invoked for the first time a local law reserved for “special conditions of an emergency nature” to place the Metropolitan Police department under direct federal control, as well as deploying 800 National Guard troops.
“It’s becoming a situation of complete and total lawlessness,” Trump told reporters, flanked by senior government officials including US attorney-general Pam Bondi, who took control of the police force in Washington.