As President Donald Trump’s deployment of Nationwide Guard troops continued, protesters lashed out at three of his prime officers who took time for a photograph op with the guardsmen on Wednesday in Washington, D.C.,’s Union Station.
Protesters booed and jeered Vice President JD Vance, Protection Secretary Pete Hegseth and White Home deputy chief of workers Stephen Miller as they got here to the station, positioned blocks from the U.S. Capitol, to thank the troops. The group’s chants drowned out the voices of the officers.
“Free DC,” the protesters shouted as three officers arrived of their motorcade.
Vice President JD Vance, Protection Secretary Pete Hegseth and White Home Deputy Chief of Employees Stephen Miller react to protesters as they depart after greetings members of the Nationwide Guard stationed at Union Station in Washington, Aug. 20, 2025.
Saul Loeb/AFP by way of Getty Pictures
Vance, Hegseth and Miller stopped by on the station’s Shake Shack and acquired and ate lunch for the guard members.
Vance and Miller dismissed the jeers of the protesters, which drowned out their press gaggle, calling them “loopy” and “communists.”
Vice President JD Vance walks to satisfy with the Nationwide Guard at Union Station, Aug. 2025 in Washington.
Alexander Drago/Pool by way of AP
“They seem to hate the concept that Individuals can get pleasure from their communities,” Vance mentioned.
Vance was requested why the troops had been stationed at Union Station as a substitute of components of the town with larger crime charges. The vp claimed that the station was being overrun with homeless folks and guests did not really feel protected.
“This must be a monument to American greatness,” he mentioned.
Vice President JD Vance, Protection Secretary Pete Hegseth and White Home Deputy Chief of Employees Stephen Miller react to protesters as they depart after greetings members of the Nationwide Guard stationed at Union Station in Washington, Aug. 20, 2025.
Saul Loeb/AFP by way of Getty Pictures
Vance added that he believed that crime statistics don’t report the complete scope of crime on the streets, nonetheless he declined to speak about proof that backed his declare up and advised a reporter, “You simply obtained to go searching.”
The occasion occurred on the similar time that D.C. Mayor Muriel Bowser was giving a information convention on Wednesday.
