Overview

• The White House has invoked emergency authority to federalize D.C. policing, deploying about 800 National Guard troops alongside hundreds of federal agents for patrols, checkpoints and encampment clearances.
• Gov. Wes Moore has refused to authorize Maryland Guard units for the mission, calling the mobilization “performative” and “deeply dangerous” given troops’ lack of municipal policing training.
• President Trump has publicly mocked Moore’s criticism, defending the Guard’s “common sense” readiness and labeling the governor a “chicken hawk” lacking presidential temperament.
• Maryland and D.C. leaders cite FBI data and local crime statistics showing multidecade lows in violent crime and record-low homicides in Baltimore to dispute the need for a federal takeover.
• Trump has suggested the D.C. operation could be replicated in other Democratic-led cities, including Baltimore, portraying the capital as a test case for broader federal intervention.