US National Guard members deployed to Washington, DC, started carrying their sidearms on Sunday, a spokesperson for the Joint Task Force carrying out the mission told CNN.

The development in Trump's extraordinary effort to override local law enforcement comes as he is considering expanding the deployments to cities, including Baltimore, Chicago and New York.

Washington DC is seeing a major escalation in security, with the Pentagon arming National Guard troops deployed under Donald Trump’s law-and-order drive, a move ordered by Defence Secretary Pete Hegseth amid rising political tensions in the capital.