WASHINGTON — Members of Congress clashed Thursday over President Donald Trump’s use of the National Guard in American cities , with Republicans saying the deployments were needed to fight lawlessness while Democrats called them an extraordinary abuse of military power that violated states’ rights .

Top military officials faced questioning over the deployments for the first time at the hearing before the Senate Armed Services Committee. They were pressed by Democrats over the legality of sending in troops , which in some places were done over the objections of mayors and governors, while Trump's Republican allies offered a robust defense of the policy.

It was the highest level of scrutiny, outside a courtroom, of Trump's use of the National Guard in U.S. cities since the deployment

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