West Virginia, South Carolina, Ohio to deploy hundreds of National Guard troops to D.C.

Politics

West Virginia, South Carolina, Ohio to deploy hundreds of National Guard troops to D.C.

Updated on: August 17, 2025 / 9:19 AM EDT / CBS/AP

Three states moved to deploy hundreds of members of their National Guard to the nation's capital as part of the Trump administration's effort to overhaul policing in Washington through a federal crackdown on crime and homelessness.

West Virginia said it was deploying 300 to 400 Guard troops, while South Carolina pledged 200 and Ohio says it will send 150 in the coming days.

The move comes as federal agents and National Guard troops have begun to appear across the heavily Democratic city after President Trump's executive order on Monday, federalizing local police forces and activating about 800 D.C. National Guard troops.

Republican West Virginia Gov. Patrick Morrisey announced Saturday that he was sending a contingent of 300 to 400 Guard troops to Washington, while Republican South Carolina Gov. Henry McMaster authorized the deployment of 200 of his state's National Guardsmen and Republican Ohio Gov. Mike DeWine said his state would send 150 military police at the request of the Defense Department.

"West Virginia is proud to stand with President Trump in his effort to restore pride and beauty to our nation's capital," Morrisey said.

Maj. Gen. James Seward, West Virginia's adjutant general, said in a statement that members of the state's National Guard "stand ready to support our partners in the National Capital Region" and that the troops' "unique capabilities and preparedness make it an invaluable partner in this important undertaking."

Gov. Phil Scott, a Republican from Vermont, declined on Friday to send the state's National Guard troops to the nation's capital. Scott's chief of staff, Jason Gibbs, told Vermont Public that while public safety is a "legitimate concern" in cities across the country, "the governor just does not support utilizing the guard for this purpose, and does not view the enforcement of domestic law as proper use of the National Guard."

The activations suggest the Trump administration sees the need for additional manpower after the president personally played down the need for Washington to hire more police officers.

By adding outside troops to join the existing National Guard deployment and federal law enforcement officers temporarily assigned to Washington, Mr. Trump is exercising even tighter control over the city. It's a power play that the president has justified as an emergency response to crime and homelessness, even though district officials have noted that violent crime is lower than it was during Trump's first term in office.

A White House official told CBS News Saturday that National Guard members deployed to D.C. "may be armed," but that they would not make arrests. This was a reversal from earlier in the week, when a Defense Department official told CBS News that deployed Guard members would not be armed at the request of local law enforcement partners. The official also said at the time they would not have weapons in their vehicles.

"The National Guard is not making arrests at this time – they may be armed, consistent with their mission and training, to protect federal assets, provide a safe environment for law enforcement officers to make arrests, and deter violent crime with a visible law enforcement presence," the White House official said Saturday.

A protest against Mr. Trump's intervention drew scores to Dupont Circle on Saturday afternoon before a march to the White House, about 1.5 miles away. Demonstrators assembled behind a banner that said "No fascist takeover of D.C.," and some in the crowd held signs that said "No military occupation." Mr. Trump was at his Virginia golf club after Friday's summit with Russian President Vladimir Putin in Alaska.

Federal agents have appeared in some of the city's most highly trafficked neighborhoods, garnering a mix of praise, pushback and alarm from local residents and leaders across the country.

City leaders, who are obliged to cooperate with the president's order under the federal laws that direct the district's local governance, have sought to work with the administration, though they have bristled at the scope of the president's takeover.

On Friday, the administration reversed course on an order that aimed to place the head of the Drug Enforcement Administration as an "emergency police commissioner" after the district's top lawyer sued to contest. After Friday's court hearing, Attorney General Pam Bond issued a memo that directed the Metropolitan Police Department to cooperate with federal immigration enforcement regardless of any city law.

District officials say they are evaluating how to best comply.

In his order on Monday, Mr. Trump declared an emergency due to the "city government's failure to maintain public order." He said that impeded the "federal government's ability to operate efficiently to address the nation's broader interests without fear of our workers being subjected to rampant violence."

In a letter to city residents, D.C. Mayor Muriel Bowser, a Democrat, wrote that "our limited self-government has never faced the type of test we are facing right now." She added that if Washingtonians stick together, "we will show the entire nation what it looks like to fight for American democracy — even when we don't have full access to it."

https://www.cbsnews.com/news/west-virginia-to-deploy-hundreds-of-national-guard-troops-to-d-c/

Philippines denies responsibility in collision of Chinese vessels

THE Department of Foreign Affairs (DFA) on Friday said the Philippines is not responsible for the collision between the People’s Liberation Army Navy (PLAN) vessel and the China Coast Guard (CCG) vessel near Bajo de Masinloc shoal in the West Philippine Sea.

“It was an unfortunate outcome, but not one caused by our actions,” said Foreign Affairs Secretary Theresa Lazaro in an official statement.

In an incident that highlights the escalating tensions in the West Philippine Sea, a CCG vessel was rammed by a Chinese Navy warship during the pursuit of a Philippine Coast Guard (PCG) vessel.

The PCG said CCG vessel 3104 was tailing the BRP Suluan when it collided with PLAN warship 164 last Monday.

Video footage released by the PCG showed the Suluan sustaining minor damage, including a bent flagpole, as a result of being struck during the encounter.

Despite being the target of what it described as “harassment,” the PCG said it offered immediate assistance to the Chinese vessels involved, including man-overboard recovery and medical aid.

Earlier in the week, the DFA issued a formal protest, condemning China’s “dangerous and irresponsible maneuvers” against Philippine vessels operating legally in the area. The Philippine government also renewed its long-standing demand for restitution from China.

“We reiterate our demand for compensation for the damage caused to our vessels and equipment last June 17, 2024, as well as the return of our firearms, equipment, and personal belongings of our personnel illegally seized on that date,” the DFA said.

Bajo de Masinloc has been the site of numerous maritime confrontations between China and the Philippines in recent years.

Manila has asserted its sovereign rights on the maritime feature based on international law, including the 2016 arbitral ruling that invalidated Beijing’s sweeping claims in the South China Sea.

Chinese authorities have not issued a public statement regarding the collision.

https://www.manilatimes.net/2025/08/16/news/national/not-our-fault-ph-denies-responsibility-in-collision-of-chinese-vessels/2168458

DOJ Dismisses Case Challenging Concealed Carry Ban in U.S. Post Offices

On Friday, August 15, the Department of Justice (DOJ) communicated their intent to dismiss their appeal in yet another Second Amendment-related case, this one challenging the ban on concealed carry of a firearm in U.S. Post Offices.

The one-page letter was addressed to Mike Johnson, Speaker of the House of Representatives, and signed by John Sauer, the Solicitor General. It states:

Consistent with 28 U.S.C. §530D, I write to advise you that the Department of Justice has decided to dismiss its pending appeal in the above-pending case, which concerns the constitutionality of 18 U.S.C. §930(a), the federal statute prohibiting the possession of firearms in federal facilities. A copy of the district court’s decision is enclosed….The Department of Justice plans to dismiss its appeal by August 22, 2025.

Emmanuel Ayala, a U.S. Postal Service truck driver in Tampa, Florida, who held a valid Florida concealed carry permit, was carrying a concealed pistol for self-defense while walking from the employee parking lot to retrieve his work truck at a post office. On September 14, 2022, after clocking in, Ayala was stopped by two agents from the U.S. Postal Service’s Office of Inspector General, who attempted to detain him. Ayala fled but was later arrested by the Tampa Police Department. A grand jury indicted him on two counts, possessing a firearm in a federal facility, and for forcibly resisting arrest.

Pointing to the Bruen decision, Ayala challenged the charges, stating that the ban violated his Second Amendment right to carry a firearm for self-defense; the statute was vague and ambiguous; and that the arrest was unlawful under the Fourth Amendment and common law.

The District Court dismissed the charge for carrying in a federal facility, ruling that the statute violated the Second Amendment because the government failed to demonstrate a historical tradition of banning firearms in such facilities, but did not dismiss the resisting arrest charge, nor did it address the Fifth Amendment challenge. The State appealed to the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit on March 24, 2025, with the National Rifle Association filing an amicus brief in support of Ayala.

Today’s letter from the DOJ notes that, “The resisting-arrest charge against the defendant remains pending. Dismissing the appeal would enable the district court to resolve that charge promptly, while pursuing the appeal could significantly prolong this litigation. The Department has determined that, in these circumstances, continuing to pursue the appeal is not an appropriate use of prosecutorial resources.”

https://www.news2a.com/national/doj-dismisses-case-challenging-concealed-carry-ban-in-u-s-post-offices/

Despite state order, Delray Beach refuses to paint over ‘gay rainbow crosswalk’

At the heart of Delray Beach’s arts district is a rainbow mural painted atop the paved intersection on Northeast 1st Street and 2nd Avenue.

The city has refused calls to remove it, despite Florida Department of Transportation officials decrying the mural and saying it's a violation of road safety rules.

The mural was unveiled back in 2021 and was meant to celebrate LGBTQ pride and inclusion. But now, with other cities like West Palm Beach and Boynton Beach backing down under state pressure, Delray Beach officials are standing firm — despite threats of funding cuts for noncompliance.

In June, Gov. Ron DeSantis signed SB 1662, requiring Florida roads to follow federal marking standards. The law effectively bans any kind of display of symbols Florida officials consider political or social art.

For now, the mural remains, despite a state directive threatening funding cuts for noncompliance.

https://www.wlrn.org/news-in-brief/2025-08-14/delray-beach-pride-mural-will-stay-despite-state-pressure

Adam Schiff paying just 3% mortgage on homes at center of mortgage fraud probe

Sen. Adam Schiff (D-CA) is paying just 3% on both his Maryland and California homes since refinancing his mortgages in 2020, even lower than the 5.625% rate at the center of a federal mortgage-fraud investigation against him, newly released documents reveal.

The Department of Justice is accusing the junior senator from California of claiming two homes as primary residences for more than a decade – to score lower mortgage rates and property taxes. A grand jury in Maryland is currently weighing a criminal indictment against the former 12-term congressman.

The newly released annual financial documents show that even after Schiff finally designated his Potomac, Maryland property as a second home in 2020 – after 16 years – he got the exact rock-bottom mortgage rate as his California residence when he refinanced both that year.

The average 30-year mortgage interest rate in 2020 was 3.10% for primary residences in the US, with secondary residences usually subject to rates up to 0.5% higher.

Those terms padded his wealth, since the California Democrat would have saved somewhere between $30,000 to $50,000 over 16 years, an analysis by The Post found.

That spacious 3,420-square-foot home, in one of DC’s most affluent suburbs, where neighbors say Schiff actually spends most of his time, is now worth $1.4 million – almost double what he paid for it in 2003.

Schiff also benefited from a homeowner’s tax exemption by declaring his much smaller 650-square-foot one-bedroom, one-bathroom condo in Burbank, California a primary home, resulting in a $7,000 reduction in property taxes.

The Senator’s bank assets soared to between $1.18 million and $2.63 million in 2024, the records also show.

That’s up from between $1.02 million and $2.37 million in 2023, and from $578,000 – $1.35 million in 2022, the year before he bought the Maryland home.

Schiff, 65, who led the first House impeachment inquiry into President Trump and has repeatedly said “no one’s above the law,” has also failed to disclose his mortgages on annual financial disclosures until 2011, a Post review found, even though he bought the Potomac property in 2003 and the California condo in 2009, an omission he has not explained.

He’s been called “crooked” and “low-life” by President Trump.

“I have always suspected Shifty Adam Schiff was a scam artist,” Trump wrote in July on Truth Social.

Schiff is accused of wire fraud, mail fraud, bank fraud and making false statements to financial institutions, charges which carry prison terms of up to 30 years.

He has denied wrongdoing and called the investigation a political witch hunt.

“Since I led his first impeachment, Trump has repeatedly called for me to be arrested for treason,” Schiff wrote on X when news of the investigation broke in July.

“This is just Donald Trump’s latest attempt at political retaliation against his perceived enemies.”

“Adam Schiff’s baseless smears of corruption against President Trump and Republicans have one simple explanation — he’s projecting,” Republican National Committee Press Secretary Kiersten Pels told The Post.

“Schiff is a proven liar, a con man, and a fraud,” Pels added.

Schiff did not return requests for comment.

https://www.aol.com/trump-weaponization-czar-teases-more-200105265.html

NYT Reporter, Maureen Dowd, warns democrats not to fight Trump on DC crime

My sister is having a bad summer.

In fact, even as I’m typing this, Peggy is at D.C. police headquarters.

We had dinner in Georgetown recently and when we came back to my house, where her car was parked, she was short a Buick.

Two polite officers who responded to our call said they could do little, amid a rash of brazen car thefts by teenagers.

One officer said that, even if they saw the perp driving in her car, they could not chase him, because of laws passed by the D.C. Council.

Kids — some too young to drive legally — can just hot-wire cars to go home. Two 15-year-olds are charged in a carjacking attack on a former DOGE employee that helped set off President Trump’s crusade on crime in D.C. The council has been notoriously lax toward juvenile offenders.

Peggy had always loved that Buick, which she bought because Peyton Manning was the pitchman. We figured we’d never see it again.

The next morning, though, an officer from Prince George’s County, a working-class Maryland suburb, banged on her door. Her car was found in a park, running, nearly out of gas. When she collected it, after paying a $215 towing charge, she found an odoriferous collection: half-eaten pizza, grape soda cans, fast-food wrappers, a used condom and a couple of debit cards.

She called the D.C. police to tell them about the debit cards, thinking they could help trace the thieves. (Our dad, after all, was a D.C. cop.) But the police said to throw them away, noting that the cardholders had probably already gotten new ones.

Peggy got the car detailed and celebrated its return by going shopping at Bloomingdale’s. When she got back to her parking space, someone had T-boned the poor Buick.

Then, icing on the cake, she got over $1,800 worth of speed-camera tickets that the car thieves had racked up going 70 in 25-mile-per-hour zones, and some for running red lights. One ticket revealed that the car was stolen just after she got out of it, at 7 p.m., still light outside. For all we know, the thieves watched her get out. She had to go down to headquarters on Friday to get the police report so she could appeal the tickets.

It’s hardly the most heinous crime, but you hear a lot about Washingtonians and their personal experiences being preyed on.

City officials and many liberal residents are outraged about Trump’s painting D.C. as a hellscape and flooding the zone with law enforcement and troops. Protesters around town held up signs reading “Fascists,” and a Department of Justice employee (now fired) threw a Subway sandwich at an officer and was charged with assault.

It’s ridiculous to drag F.B.I. agents from their desks to be cops on the beat. And the tableau of National Guard troops — even unarmed — raises the specter of martial law being normalized and weaponized. (Armed and masked Border Patrol officers showing up at a Gavin Newsom gerrymandering speech in L.A. was disturbing.)

It is also true that many D.C. residents are secretly glad to see more uniforms. No matter what statistics say, they don’t feel safe.

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I’ve always been hypervigilant. My mom, the wife of a policeman, passed down a healthy paranoia. She drove me to move into my dorm at Catholic University with a butcher knife on the seat between us. She gave me a Chinese letter opener with written instructions on how to find the jugular. At Christmas, there was always a can of pepper spray or a whistle among the presents.

I find myself packing pepper spray again. I feel more wary walking around the city. It’s disturbing to ask someone to unlock the Claritin at CVS because the police don’t lock up the smash-and-grabbers. Drugstores, as Bill Maher pointed out, have become a “zoo for teeth-whitening strips.”

Trump is playing the savior on crime when he’s the biggest scofflaw in town — first inciting the mob on Jan. 6 and then pardoning felons who broke into the Capitol and beat up police officers.

Elie Honig, a CNN legal analyst and the author of the forthcoming book “When You Come at the King: Inside DOJ’s Pursuit of the President, From Nixon to Trump,” summed up the dilemma.

“Yes, Trump is hypocritical and scattershot on public safety,” he told me. “And yes, he’s likely doing this as a flex. But he happens to be within the law here and he happens to be right.”

While the district’s homicide rate has fallen, it’s almost as high as New York’s at its most dangerous, in 1990.

In The Atlantic, Michael Powell noted that the reality of crime is most grim in Wards 7 and 8, the disadvantaged, majority-Black neighborhoods where more than half of the district’s homicides occurred last year.

“I have no doubt that Trump enjoys targeting Democratic-controlled cities for embarrassment,” Powell writes. “I also have little doubt that a mother in Ward 8 might draw comfort from a National Guard soldier standing watch near her child’s school.”

The diva of distraction is putting on a show. (They’re eating the cats and the dogs!) But progressives should not fall into Trump’s trap and play down crime, once more getting on the wrong side of an inflammatory issue. As with inflation, they should remember that personal experiences can count more than sanguine statistics.

Even if Trump is being diabolical, Democrats should not pretend everything is fine here. Because it’s not.

https://www.nytimes.com/2025/08/16/opinion/criminal-fights-crime.html?unlocked_article_code=1.ek8.IdXK.OYGJR4l4qeJ8&smid=url-share

8 arrested in Las Vegas area child predator operation

A multi-agency operation targeting alleged child sex predators has resulted in the arrests of eight men over the past two weeks, authorities announced this morning.

The eight suspects, ranging in age from 23 to 49, face felony charges of luring a child with a computer for sex acts. Seven of the men were booked into the Henderson Detention Center, while one was processed at the Clark County Detention Center.

Those arrested include:

• David Wonnacott-Yahnke, 40

• Tom Artiom Alexandrovich, 38

• Jose Alberto Perez-Torres, 35

• Aniket Brajeshkumar Sadani, 23

• James Ramon Reddick, 23

• Ramon Manuel Parra Valenzuela, 29

• Neal Harrison Creecy, 46

• John Charles Duncan, 49

Authorities are urging parents to discuss online safety with their children, emphasizing the dangers of engaging with strangers on the internet. Officials recommend that parents regularly monitor their children’s social media and online activity to help prevent them from becoming victims.

Anyone who believes they may have been victimized by any of the arrested individuals, or who has information about related crimes, should contact Metro at 702-828-3111.

https://lasvegassun.com/news/2025/aug/15/8-arrested-in-las-vegas-area-child-predator-operat/

Senior Israeli cyber official detained in Las Vegas as part of child solicitation probe

Cops say Tom Alexandrovich, a Cyber Directorate division head, faces charges of luring a child with a computer for a sex act; reports say he returned to Israel, was put on leave.

ILLUSTRATIVE: Las Vegas Police parked on the strip, January 1, 2025. (AP Photo/Ty ONeil)

A senior official in Israel’s National Cyber Directorate was detained and questioned last week in Las Vegas on suspicion of attempting to lure minors to meet for sexual purposes, according to local police and Hebrew media reports.

The Las Vegas Metropolitan Police Department identified the official as Tom Artiom Alexandrovich, 39.

According to Hebrew reports, Alexandrovich is a division head in the Cyber Directorate and was in Las Vegas for a conference in a professional capacity at the time of his arrest.

According to police, the man was arrested along with seven others during a sting operation targeting online predators.

All eight suspects “face felony charges of luring a child with [a] computer for [a] sex act,” police said, adding that Alexandrovich was booked at the Henderson Detention Center.

Police said that the suspects were released after being questioned, but added that indictments were expected to be filed against them.

According to Hebrew media reports, Alexandrovich returned to Israel after his release and was not arrested upon arrival.

The Cyber Directorate said the official reported that he was detained while in the US for matters “unrelated to work,” and that it was agreed he would be placed on leave until the matter was clarified.

The directorate added that it “had not yet received official details from US authorities,” and that “if and when such details are received, the directorate will act accordingly.”

The Cyber Directorate is in charge of cyber defense in Israel’s civilian sphere, including critical national infrastructure, and operates under the Prime Minister’s Office.

https://www.timesofisrael.com/senior-israeli-cyber-official-detained-in-las-vegas-as-part-of-child-solicitation-probe/