> Why were they there if they had no power to do anything? <
They all should have been deputized as US Marshals. And I still haven’t seen a definitive answer to this question: Were these DC Guardsmen armed, or not?
And I mean locked and loaded. Not carrying around an empty rifle with - maybe - a magazine on their belt.
They were locked and loaded....rifles and/or hand guns.
I watch a live Cam in Louisiana now and then. I saw around 6 National Guardsmen, all armed, walking the streets.