President Donald Trump announced on Thursday that he plans to personally patrol the streets of Washington, D.C. with the police and National Guard troops at night.
Trump made the announcement during a Thursday interview on The Todd Starnes Show. The president’s remarks come ten days after he first announced he would be deploying the National Guard to the capital to combat its rampant crime crisis — following a string of violent homicides over the preceding months.
“I’m going to be going out tonight,” Trump told host Todd Starnes. “I’m going to keep it a secret. I’m going to go — you’re the only one that knows. You and your lots of listeners.”
“I’m going to go out tonight, I think, with the police and with the military, of course,” Trump added. “The National Guard is great, they’ve done a fantastic job.”
The president signed an executive order earlier in August declaring a crime emergency in D.C.
Since Trump’s takeover effort, 630 arrests have been made and 86 illegal guns have been seized. These arrests include an MS-13 gang member, according to Attorney General Pam Bondi.
On Wednesday night, 53 arrests were made and 10 illegal guns were seized by law enforcement, according to United States Attorney General for the District of Columbia Jeanine Pirro.
DC Police Union Chairman Gregg Pemberton claimed on Tuesday that the Metropolitan Police Department (MPD) had ordered officers to not report certain crimes in the past so that crime statistics may appear to drop.
Democrats have called this federal takeover by Trump a “political stunt” and have voiced strong opposition to Trump’s crackdown. Democratic California Rep. Robert Garcia on Wednesday night appeared to threaten a government shutdown if Trump does not remove federal troops from the capital by Congress’ Sept. 30 deadline to fund the federal government.
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