Trump can keep National Guard in Washington, DC, for now: Appeals court 

A United States appeals court has issued a stay on a lower court’s order requiring the administration of US President Donald Trump to withdraw the National Guard from Washington, DC, in the coming weeks.

The decision on Thursday by a three-judge panel of the US Court of Appeals for the DC Circuit granted a Trump administration request for a pause on a previous order as it considers its response.

District judge Jia Cobb had ruled in November that the Trump administration must withdraw federal troops by December 11, later extending the deadline by 21 days.

In their order, the appeals court judges stressed that their decision to pause the order “should not be construed in any way as a ruling on the merits”.

The Trump administration has deployed at least 2,000 National Guard troops – reservists who are not full-time soldiers – to Washington, DC, as part of what he has described as part of an anti-crime and beautification initiative.

He has run into legal challenges as he has sought to do the same in Democrat-run cities across the country, including Los Angeles, California; Portland, Oregon; and Chicago, Illinois.

A ruling has been slower coming in the US capital, a federal territory where the president wields more authority.

Nevertheless, Cobb ruled in November that the Trump administration had “acted contrary to law” by deploying the National Guard for “non-military, crime-deterrence missions in the absence of a request from the city’s civil authorities”.

Thursday’s decision comes days after two members of the West Virginia National Guard were shot while on duty just blocks from the White House.

One member, 20-year-old Sarah Beckstrom, later died from her wounds. Another member, 24-year-old Andrew Wolfe, remained in critical condition.

Authorities have charged 29-year-old Afghan Rahmanullah Lakanwal for the attack, after which the Trump administration pledged to send 500 more members of the National Guard to the city.