Federal troops are patrolling the National Mall and neighborhoods across Washington while President Donald Trump's administration exerts extraordinary power over law enforcement in the nation's capital.

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.

Trump's plan to address crime in D.C. calls for deploying National Guard troops along the National Mall overnight Wednesday into Thursday morning, according to a source.

Under Trump, men and women in uniform face an ethical dilemma: How should they respond to an order they believe is illegal?

Trump’s authoritarian proposed “rapid response force,” however, will continue to take the U.S. down his path of dictatorial fascism.

Dressed in camouflage fatigues, National Guard troops patrolled areas of Washington Thursday, dispatched by President Donald Trump to police what he has called "out of control crime" in the city.

Outside the busiest train station in Washington, newly deployed National Guard troops wearing camouflage lean on a huge military Humvee. Wary residents and curious tourists stop to take photos, while inside the elegant Union Station a string trio plays "What a Wonderful World.

More federal law enforcement missions on the streets of Washington, D.C. are expected Thursday as troops muster in response to President Donald Trump’s unprecedented announcement that his administrati