Morrisey said the deployment includes hundreds of “skilled personnel” at the request of the Trump administration.

West Virginia Governor Patrick Morrisey is deploying 300 to 400 National Guard troops to the District of Columbia at the request of the Trump administration, the governor's office said in a statement on Saturday.

The National Guard is a reserve force of the U.S. military that is typically deployed by states in response to natural disasters, although it has been used in the past by presidents to help quell domestic unrest - including President George H.W. Bush during the Los Angeles riots in 1992.