MSNBC anchor Jen Psaki is questioning the Trump administration’s use of National Guard troops after yet another school shooting Wednesday.
The former Biden administration press secretary took to social media after learning about a fatal shooting at the Annunciation Catholic Church in Minneapolis, in which an 8-year-old and a 10-year-old were killed during mass. At least 14 other children were wounded, as were 3 adults in their 80s.
“When kids are getting shot in their pews at a catholic school mass and your crime plan is to have national guard put mulch down around DC maybe rethink your strategy,” Psaki, a mother of two, posted on X.
When kids are getting shot in their pews at a catholic school mass and your crime plan is to have national guard put mulch down around DC maybe rethink your strategy
— Jen Psaki (@jrpsaki) August 27, 2025
Some National Guard troops, which Trump deployed to the capital earlier this month under the guise of reducing crime, have since been seen picking up trash and spreading mulch at several locations around the city as part of “beautification projects.” That job is normally reserved for the Park Service, but the Trump administration’s cuts to the federal workforce have stretched its resources ever thinner.
“It’s everybody—the masons, the maintenance workers, the groundskeepers, the plumbers. Every shop is short,” one Park Service official told The Washington Post. What was once a D.C. workforce of 200 is now 20.
Some of the more than 2,200 National Guard troops deployed to the capital have also questioned taking over Park Service duties and how that affects their military readiness.
“It’s a question…[that] I and a lot of other higher enlisted are asking,” Master Sgt. David Bowden told the Post.
The White House did not immediately respond to a request for comment from the Daily Beast asking how long National Guard troops will be helping out with landscaping duties in the capital, or what—if any—action the administration will be taking on guns.
In a proclamation earlier Wednesday, Trump ordered flags to be flown at half-staff through the end of the month.
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