Virginia Gov. Ralph Northam rejected a request from Secretary of Defense Mark Esper to send between 3,000 to 5,000 of the state's national guard to Washington D.C. as part of a massive show of force organized by the Trump administration in response to violent protests, according to Northam's chief of staff, Clark Mercer.
Mercer said Trump's comments to governors in a phone call Monday, in which the president said most governors were "weak" and needed to "dominate" the streets, played a role in the decision: "The president's remarks to the governors heightened our concerns about how the guard would be used."