President Donald Trump met with police and army in Washington, D.C., on Thursday to supervise the surge in federal law enforcement and National Guard, who’re responding to what he says is a criminal offense emergency within the district.
Trump visited the U.S. Park Police Anacostia Operations Facility in Southeast D.C., which is serving because the gathering level for all of the companies concerned within the operation, thanking officers and members of the army and delivering hamburgers from the White Home and pizza.
Trump left the White Home within the presidential limousine — nicknamed “the Beast” — with U.S. Lawyer Common Pam Bondi and White Home deputy chief of employees Stephen Miller Thursday afternoon to go to the power.
“I simply need to thank everyone very a lot for being right here,” Trump mentioned. “I needed to do that. We have had some unbelievable outcomes which have come out, and it is like a special place. It is like a special metropolis. It is the capital. It’ll be the most effective on the earth.”
President Donald Trump speaks to federal troops on the US Park Police Anacostia operations facility in Washington, August 21, 2025.
Mandel Ngan/AFP through Getty Photographs
The president spoke for a number of minutes, touting his anti-crime push.
“You bought to be sturdy, you bought to be robust,” Trump urged the group. “You bought to do your job. No matter it takes to do your job.”
President Donald Trump speaks to federal troops on the US Park Police Anacostia operations facility in Washington, August 21, 2025.
Mandel Ngan/AFP through Getty Photographs
In a radio interview earlier Thursday, Trump mentioned he can be “going out tonight” with the regulation enforcement and army, however he returned to the White Home after the go to to the power.
President Donald Trump speaks with federal troops as Inside Secretary Doug Burgum and Lawyer Common Pam Bondi hear on the US Park Police Anacostia operations facility in Washington, August 21, 2025.
Jacquelyn Martin/AP
The president mobilized the Nationwide Guard one week in the past to help the police, claiming crime was uncontrolled. Officers have mentioned Guard personnel don’t make arrests, solely serving to to detain folks briefly if obligatory earlier than handing them off to regulation enforcement.
Violent crime ranges have decreased compared to years prior, down 26% since 2024, a 30-year low, in line with crime stats launched by town’s Metropolitan Police Division.
Trump instructed radio host Todd Starnes on Thursday that the D.C. deployment was “type of a take a look at” and indicated that they’d copy the mannequin in different cities round America.
“It is working unbelievably, a lot quicker than we thought. We have arrested a whole lot of criminals, hardline criminals, folks that can by no means be any good,” the president mentioned.
The president mentioned that he would put Memphis “early” on the listing of subsequent cities to patrol.
“And, you already know, sadly, we’ve quite a lot of cities like that. However I really like Tennessee. , I received Tennessee by many, many, many factors. So it was a landslide, far larger than even, you already know, the Republican. Republicans do good in Tennessee, however, I imply, my number was like 35 points, and I am glad you inform me that I can put that early on an inventory, and I am positive that individuals would like it,” he added.
The Washington Monument and Lincoln Memorial are seen as Nationwide Guard troops stroll alongside the Nationwide Mall on August 20, 2025 in Washington, DC.
Andrew Harnik/Getty Photographs
In June, Trump deployed the California National Guard to Los Angeles amid protests in opposition to immigration raids carried out by Immigrations and Customs Enforcement (ICE). Democratic Gov. Gavin Newsom sued the administration, alleging that it violated the Posse Comitatus Act — an 1878 regulation that prevented the president from utilizing the army as a home police drive. A ruling has not been issued within the case.
Trump went on to say that he “straightened out crime in 4 days in DC.” The president additionally rebuffed criticism about his actions within the nation’s capital.
“And all I do, all they do is they are saying ‘He is a dictator, he is a dictator’ — the place, persons are getting mugged everywhere, and so they offer you phony information, like, it is fantastic and it is worse than it ever was, however we have got it going. Individuals are so blissful. They are going out to eating places once more,” he claimed.
Trump’s remarks got here a day after Vice President JD Vance, Protection Secretary Pete Hegseth and White Home deputy chief of employees Stephen Miller visited the Nationwide Guard at Union Station, the place they have been drowned out by boos from protesters.
Almost 2,000 guardsmen from D.C. and 6 states have been mobilized to help Trump’s mission on the nation’s capital. They continue to be unarmed at the moment, however officers have mentioned they count on that to alter.
Donald Trump speaks throughout a gathering with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky within the Oval Workplace of the White Home in Washington, DC, on August 18, 2025.
Mandel Ngan/AFP through Getty Photographs
The troops have been stationed exterior many vacationer scorching spots, together with the Nationwide Mall and Union Station, the place crime incidents are known to be lower than different elements of town. Trump and different officers haven’t given a timetable of when the troop deployment will finish.
Vance on Wednesday dismissed crime statistics that confirmed incidents have been decrease in Union Station. He claimed that they don’t report the total scope of crime in D.C.
Washington, D.C., Mayor Muriel Bowser on Monday criticized the Trump administration’s federal police surge within the nation’s capital, calling it politically motivated and disconnected from crime within the metropolis.
“This does not make sense. The numbers on the bottom and the district do not help 1,000 folks from different states coming to Washington, D.C.,” Bowser mentioned.
ABC Information’ Luis Martinez and Anne Flaherty contributed to this report.
