National Guard members on DC streets for Trump’s crackdown will soon be armed, military says Politics Updated on Aug 22, 2025 11:11 AM EDT — Published on Aug 22, 2025 11:01 AM EDT

WASHINGTON (AP) — Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth has ordered that National Guard troops patrolling the streets of Washington for President Donald Trump’s law enforcement crackdown will be armed, the Pentagon said Friday.

The Defense Department didn’t immediately offer any other details about the new development or why it was needed.

The step is a escalation in Trump’s intervention into policing in the nation’s capital and comes as nearly 2,000 National Guard members are stationed in the city, with the arrival this week of hundreds of troops from several Republican-led states.

The Pentagon and Army said last

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