NewsNation’s Leland Vittert and pundit Mehdi Hasan sparred Monday night after the progressive commentator mentioned the Jan. 6, 2021, Capitol attack during a debate on President Trump’s crackdown on crime in Washington.
“Trump cares about crime in D.C.? Really?” Hasan asked while appearing on NewsNation’s “On Balance,” adding, “Because I remember Donald Trump on Jan. 6, 2021, not giving a crap about crime in D.C.”
Vittert pushed back, saying “we know the statistics on Jan. 6.”
“You’re going to sit here and say, if Trump cures cancer, Jan. 6 was terrible,” the host said. “The fact is you can’t have an argument about what’s happening on the streets of D.C. without going back to Jan. 6.”
Hasan shot back saying, “If he cared about crime in D.C., why did he pardon 600 people who assaulted police officers?”
“Oh come on,” Vittert responded, as the two talked over one another. “This is silly.”
Trump on Monday said he was declaring a state of emergency under the city’s Home Rule Act, citing what he said was rampant and out of control crime. He seized control of the Metropolitan Police and deployed National Guard troops to patrol streets in the district.
The move has been widely panned by Democrats and some local leaders in the district, who argued crime is down in D.C. and say the president is overstepping his authority.
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