Washington DC Mayor Muriel Bowser, a Democrat, who has denied crime is out of control in her city, described the troop deployment as an "authoritarian push". Trump, a Republican, has also threatened similar deployments against New York and Chicago, two other Democratic-controlled cities.

The presence of troops in the capital is expected to grow over the next week and the president is threatening to take similar tactics to other Democratic cities

Mayor Muriel Bowser sought to reassure residents in the nation's capital, adding that the National Guard deployment was unnecessary.