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For the first time amid President Trump's ongoing and controversial National Guard deployment in Washington, D.C., several Democratic governors have sent troops to the city. Those governors have been adamant that their guard members are only to be used to help ensure safety at the America 250 events and not Trump's anti-crime task force. But as NPR's Kat Lonsdorf reports some guard members have been seen patrolling residential neighborhoods far from the celebrations.
KAT LONSDORF, BYLINE: Last Wednesday, D.C. resident Keya Chatterjee headed over to the Georgetown Waterfront, an upscale, trendy neighborhood. Chatterjee runs the nonprofit Free DC, which has been critical of the ongoing National Guard deployment in the city.
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KEYA CHATTERJEE: Where are you guys from?
UNIDENTIFIED NATIONAL GUARD MEMBER #1: Michigan.
CHATTERJEE: Michigan?
LONSDORF: In this video she shot, which NPR has authenticated, she approaches four guard members surveying a sidewalk. The troops identify themselves as from Michigan, one of four Democratic states - along with Kentucky, North Carolina and Minnesota - that recently sent troops.
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CHATTERJEE: Do you know how far it is from here to the federal district, to the mall?
LONSDORF: They respond that they don't. Georgetown is more than a mile from the America 250 celebrations. On Monday, another D.C. resident, Elizabeth Goldberg (ph), recorded a similar video, this time in the Dupont neighborhood, also about a mile from the celebration.
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ELIZABETH GOLDBERG: So you're from Minnesota?
UNIDENTIFIED NATIONAL GUARD MEMBER #2: Yes, ma'am.
GOLDBERG: Oh, OK.
LONSDORF: With several guard members who said they're from Minnesota. NPR has also authenticated this video.
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GOLDBERG: So how far from - are we from the 250 celebration locations right now?
LONSDORF: The troops say they aren't sure. It's not unusual for governors to send National Guard troops to big national events like inaugurations or political conventions. But D.C. is not operating as usual these days. For more than 10 months there has been a continuous and growing presence of armed, uniformed National Guard troops, mostly from Republican-led states, patrolling the city as part of Trump's federal task force to fight crime, even though crime was already trending down.
All state troops in the city are technically under the control of their respective governors, and Democrats have insisted theirs are not to be used for that broader law enforcement operation. But those videos suggest that's what's happening. Earlier today, 19 former senior military officials sent a joint letter to all governors who have yet to send troops to D.C., mostly Democrats, urging them not to.
FRANK KENDALL: Well, under normal circumstances, sending some guard troops to help with Fourth of July celebration wouldn't be that big a deal.
LONSDORF: Former Secretary of the Air Force Frank Kendall signed that letter, which said that the present situation in D.C. is, quote, "fundamentally different" from past celebrations. He finds the sheer number of troops in the city, nearly 5,000 currently, very concerning.
KENDALL: And I think, frankly, that the American people are being desensitized to the presence of armed, uniformed people on their streets.
LONSDORF: The federal Joint Task Force, which is overseeing the guard deployments in D.C., lists the Democratic-led states as part of Trump's anti-crime mission on its public-facing website but did not respond to questions about troops' activities in the city. When contacted by NPR about her troops apparently patrolling in Georgetown, Michigan Governor Gretchen Whitmer responded by threatening to pull her more than 160 troops if they are being used for Trump's task force. Minnesota Governor Tim Walz did not respond to repeated requests for comment about his troops apparently patrolling far from the America 250 celebrations as well. Kentucky Governor Andy Beshear's office confirmed to NPR that he recalled his one guard member after they were, quote, "diverted to the federal task force" without the governor's consent. Joseph Nunn focuses on domestic activities of the military at the Brennan Center for Justice.
JOSEPH NUNN: Given this administration's track record over the past year and a half, the potential for these guard forces to be misused is so high that it almost becomes a guarantee.
LONSDORF: He says what's happening in D.C. has to be understood in the larger context of the Trump administration's unprecedented use of the National Guard domestically.
NUNN: Nothing about how this administration has used the National Guard has been normal or appropriate.
LONSDORF: The administration maintains its use of the guard has been lawful. But Nunn says Democratic governors should have understood the risk of sending troops into Washington.
Kat Lonsdorf, NPR News, Washington.
(SOUNDBITE OF JAKE XERXES FUSSELL'S "WASHINGTON") Transcript provided by NPR, Copyright NPR.
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