Donald Trump is set to join federalized law enforcement officials on the streets of Washington DC on Thursday as his administration continues its extraordinary and forced takeover the local police force in the US capital amid the deployment of national guard troops.
“I’m going to be going out tonight with the police and with the military, of course,” Trump said in an interview with talkshow host Todd Starnes.
Trump’s plans were not immediately clear and the White House had not finalized plans. But one person briefed on the matter said they understood that Trump would travel by motorcade to an area identified as being a crime hotspot by the administration in the early evening.
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The planned excursion marks the latest effort by Trump to lean into the public safety emergency he declared last week to combat crime seemingly in response to a young administration staffer known for his role at the so-called “department of government efficiency” (Doge) being assaulted in an altercation over an alleged carjacking.
It also comes a day after JD Vance, defense secretary Pete Hegseth and Trump’s deputy chief of staff Stephen Miller visited national guard troops posted at Union Station and pledged to expand its crackdown.
The group’s impromptu stop at a Shake Shack in Union Station drew boos, insults and epithets that echoed around the cavernous entrance hall of the Beaux-Arts style train station. It was unclear whether the stringent security expected to be in place for Trump’s movements would allow for similar protests.
Trump has long complained about perceived crime rates in DC and the declaration gave him an opening to invoke a legal justification to bring the metropolitan police department under the administration’s control, and deploy national guard troops from several states.
Falsely painting DC as an urban hellscape overrun by “bloodthirsty criminals”, Trump authorized the deployment of law enforcement units across the city – both in areas with high rates of recorded crime, as well as popular nightlife and tourist spots, including near the White House and Union Station.
Since then, the White House has also tied its immigration enforcement agenda to reducing crime in DC, deploying US Immigration and Customs Enforcement (Ice) agents and other federal law enforcement on local police patrols to detain immigrants in moped traffic stops.
The surge of law enforcement agents have corresponded to a higher number of daily arrests, which the administration has used to argue Trump’s move was reducing the number of undocumented immigrants and take credit for bringing down crimes like carjackings and shootings.
Speaking to reporters on Thursday morning, DC mayor Muriel Bowser said the city had previously had drops in violent crime before Trump took it over, adding an order from US attorney general Pam Bondi compelling DC police to cooperate with federal officials focused on immigration and homeless enforcement.
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