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D.C. attorney general sues Trump, seeks halt to National Guard deployment

Members of the West Virginia National Guard are seen at the Lincoln Memorial in Washington on Sunday. MUST CREDIT: Craig Hudson/For The Washington Post (Craig Hudson/For the Washington Post)
By Meagan Flynn and Jenny Gathright washington post

D.C. Attorney General Brian Schwalb on Thursday sued President Donald Trump and his administration over the deployment of the National Guard in the nation’s capital, describing it as an illegal “military occupation” that has turned domestic troops into local police.

The lawsuit is the second one that Schwalb has filed against Trump since the president declared a “crime emergency” in D.C. on Aug. 11 and asserted control over city police while deploying military troops onto city streets. Schwalb is seeking to force the administration to withdraw the National Guard from the city and enjoin it from pursuing similar actions in the nation’s capital.

Unlike governors in states, the D.C. mayor does not have control over the D.C. National Guard - the president is its commander in chief. But Schwalb’s lawsuit argues the president has exceeded his authority and that the troops are illegally being used for law enforcement purposes.

Nearly 2,300 members of the National Guard were stationed in D.C. as of Tuesday, including 1,340 from seven states outside the District, according to a joint National Guard task force that provides daily updates on the troops’ activities in the city.

Schwalb argues that the armed troops’ presence has been “harmful” to the city and its residents and that the involuntary nature of their deployment infringes on the District’s limited autonomy.

“Deploying the National Guard to engage in law enforcement is not only unnecessary and unwanted, but it is also dangerous and harmful to the District and its residents,” Schwalb said in a statement. “No American city should have the U.S. military - particularly out-of-state military who are not accountable to the residents and untrained in local law enforcement - policing its streets. It’s D.C. today but could be any other city tomorrow. We’ve filed this action to put an end to this illegal federal overreach.”

Abigail Jackson, a spokeswoman for the White House, said in response to the lawsuit that Trump was fully within his authority to deploy the troops.

“President Trump is well within his lawful authority to deploy the National Guard in Washington D.C. to protect federal assets and assist law enforcement with specific tasks,” she said in a statement. “This lawsuit is nothing more than another attempt - at the detriment of DC residents and visitors - to undermine the President’s highly successful operations to stop violent crime in DC.”

The troops have been most visible to the public on the National Mall and at Metro stations, where they have occasionally helped people in medical distress, flagged down D.C. police to respond to alleged public safety threats and in at least one case intervened themselves by temporarily detaining someone, the task force updates say.

The Trump administration is expected to approve an extension of the National Guard’s deployment in D.C. through December, as The Washington Post reported Wednesday.

The Pentagon did not immediately respond to a request for comment about the lawsuit.

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Tara Copp contributed to this report.