By Idrees Ali
(Reuters) - U.S. National Guard troops patrolling the streets of Washington, D.C. as part of what President Donald Trump said was his crackdown on crime, will begin carrying weapons on Sunday night, two officials said.
The exact number of troops who would carry their weapons was fluid, but they would either carry their M17 pistols or M4 rifles, according to the officials who spoke on condition of anonymity as they were not authorized to discuss the matter.
Hundreds of unarmed National Guard troops have been in Washington's streets for the past two weeks after Trump declared a crime emergency in the district. Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth last week authorized the troops to carry weapons.
The Guard's Joint Task Force-DC said in a written statement on Sunday that its personnel would only use force "as a last resort and solely in response to an imminent threat of death or serious bodily harm."
Meanwhile, Trump, a Republican, has said he would probably expand his crime crackdown to Chicago, intervening in another city governed by Democrats. And on Sunday, he suggested the possibility of deploying troops to Democratic-run Baltimore in Maryland.
Democratic House of Representatives Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries said on Sunday that Trump did not have the authority to deploy troops to Chicago as the Pentagon carried out initial planning for a possible deployment.
U.S. officials, speaking on the condition of anonymity, said there had been initial planning at the Pentagon about what a deployment of National Guard troops to Chicago would look like.
One official said the plans were part of the military's efforts to anticipate any requests by Trump and noted senior Pentagon officials have not yet been briefed on them. It is not uncommon for the Pentagon to plan for potential deployments before formal orders are given.
Jeffries said any move to deploy troops to Chicago was an attempt by Trump to manufacture a crisis. Crime, including murders, has declined in Chicago in the last year.
"There's no basis, no authority for Donald Trump to potentially try to drop federal troops into the city of Chicago," Jeffries told CNN's "State of the Union" on Sunday.
Jeffries cited comments made by JB Pritzker, the Democratic governor of Illinois, which includes Chicago, who said there was no emergency warranting the deployment of the National Guard or other military.
Leveling criticism at Democratic Governor Wes Moore over crime levels in Baltimore, Trump said he was prepared to deploy troops there, too.
In July, the Baltimore police department said there had been a double-digit reduction in gun violence compared to the previous year. The city has had 84 homicides so far this year - the fewest in over 50 years, according to the mayor.
"If Wes Moore needs help... I will send in the “troops,” which is being done in nearby DC, and quickly clean up the Crime," Trump said on Truth Social on Sunday.
Some Republican governors have sent hundreds of National Guard troops to Washington, D.C., at Trump's request. The president has depicted the capital as being in the grip of a crime wave, although official data shows crime is down in the city.
On Sunday, Trump asserted without evidence that there was now no crime in the city and credited it to his deployment of troops and hundreds of federal law enforcement personnel.
Trump has much less power over Chicago and Baltimore than he does over the District of Columbia, where, as president, he holds more sway.
Title 10 of the U.S. Code, a federal law that outlines the role of the U.S. Armed Forces, includes a provision allowing the president to deploy National Guard units to repel an invasion, to suppress a rebellion or to allow the president to execute the law.
Trump cited this provision, known as Section 12406, when he sent National Guard units to California earlier this year to counter protests, over the objections of Governor Gavin Newsom.
In the case of Chicago, which is a so-called sanctuary city, Trump may argue that local laws that bar city officials from cooperating with federal immigration agents prevent the president from executing the law, justifying the military presence.
Trump is almost certain to face legal challenges if he uses Section 12406 to send National Guard troops from Republican-led states into Democratic strongholds.
(Reporting by Idrees Ali in Toronto; editing by Ross Colvin, Chris Reese and Stephen Coates)
