The Defense Department has begun positioning active duty troops around the Washington area in anticipation of President Donald Trump following through on his historic threat Monday to use the military to quell widespread and at-times violent protests across the country, including in the nation’s capital, if local authorities didn’t do more to stop them.
Active duty military police and combat engineers had not entered the District of Columbia but were, as of Monday evening, staging in the region – likely on one of the military bases nearby – “to ensure faster employment if necessary,” according to a senior defense official speaking on the condition of anonymity. Some had come from units based elsewhere in the country, but the official declined to offer specifics. Other news outlets, including Military.com, reported soldiers from the 18th Airborne Corps at Fort Bragg in North Carolina were among the forces that had deployed.
In Trump’s first national address since widespread protest following the death of George Floyd in Minneapolis, the president Monday evening threatened to use the military to “quickly solve the problem” if state governors and local authorities didn’t do more to “dominate the streets” and stop the protest movement “that has spread throughout our country.”
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