America's Talking - White House Touts D.C. Crackdown; No Timeline on National Guard Deployment

Episode Date: August 22, 2025

(The Center Square) – More than a week after President Donald Trump declared “Liberation Day” in Washington, D.C., his administration is touting the operation as a success as more Republican governors commit National Guard troops. Attorney General Pam Bondi said that since the operation began on Aug. 11, law enforcement officials have made 465 arrests, adding that “nearly half” of the “arrests have occurred in the high-crime areas” of the district. The D.C. Police Union has calculated major decreases in crimes since “Liberation Day,” including 83% drops in carjackings, 46% decreases in robberies, 22% drops in violent crime, 21% decreases in car theft, and 6% drops in property crime. The group adds that there has been an 8% reduction in crime overall.Support this podcast: https://secure.anedot.com/franklin-news-foundation/ce052532-b1e4-41c4-945c-d7ce2f52c38a?source_code=xxxxxx Full story: https://www.thecentersquare.com/national/article_46a7c8d9-b819-4342-afe4-b7006b5c6c1b.html Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

Welcome to America's Talking, powered by the Center Square. I'm Morgan Sweeney, White House reporter for the Center Square. We are now well into the second week of President Donald Trump's Liberation Day Operation in Washington, D.C., where he deployed National Guard troops to combat crime in the city. The White House this week touted police union statistics showing crime significantly down since the operation began. Washington, D.C. Mayor Muriel Bowser and other Democrats have been highly critical of the deployment. Joining me to discuss this is the Center Square's Washington, D.C. Bureau Chief Sarah, Sarah, tell us more about what the White House is saying about the crime data. Well, they continue to show that the data, that data showing that crime is significantly down and is past now almost two weeks since, quote, Liberation Day, as President Trump calls it, showing that, I think there were some new figures just released, but it's showing that, like, carjackings, for instance, are down by 83%. A lot of significant drops in all the crime in all crime areas, including property, theft, and I guess assaults and everything. So it is showing that it is having a significant impact.

Not exactly sure if it's, you know, if it's just based on arrest of getting people off the streets, or if it's just sort of a deterrent to, you know, crimes ongoing, you know, potentially, you know, people committing future crimes. We don't really know at this point. So Trump joined military and law enforcement on Thursday with a large group of them gathered, just thanking them for the job that they're doing, affirming that he believes it's necessary, having them there. what did he have to say to them then? No, he just, he thanked them for what they were doing. He did. He talked about the importance of what they are, what they have been doing and the impact

that they are making, showing that, hey, this is working, peers be working. Other cities are sort of looking at this going, okay, obviously this is working. Even some Democrats are, you know, it's kind of undeniable, hey, this is going on. This seems to be working. But yeah, he went to, I believe it was the Park Police, had quarters. And because Park Police is a major part of this. Park Police oversees the mall, like, a lot of different areas, Rock Creek Park, a lot of areas within the district, they have a lot of jurisdiction over. So they are sort of a very important component to this patrolling. And so it's

really interesting. He went there, but he was also, Vice President Vance, did something similar. He went with Pete Hexstath, a secretary of defense, to Union Station. They met with National Guard members. They shared a meal with them. They did all that. They had some good words. But as that was happening, now Trump did not see this. But obviously, it was a little bit more apparent when Bance was there.

There was a lot of pushback. There were a lot of protests. There were people inside Union Station, shouting, you know, calling him a Nazi and so forth, and shouting some profanities at the vice president and secretary, Hegsteth, as they were going through. So there is quite a bit of pushback and protests that are ongoing. But interestingly, people on the ground there are, it's, Union Station was sort of a hotbed. There was a lot of homelessness around there, and there were, there were some, a lot of sometimes violence could break out there.

And that's been sort of been pushed out. People have noted, hey, they don't smell weed, you know, when they're coming out of Union Station, they're not approached. And so it's interesting to kind of see how this is sort of transpired. But I do think it's going to continue on. But the D.C. Police Union, they have been sort of. about the forefront of this whole thing with they've been putting out some of these stats and whatnot. And they're just sort of saying, hey, this is just sort of the first, you know, this is just the first step in this. And they want real reforms and starting with the D.C. Council. So I think it'll be

really interesting. I think right now this is sort of the first step in what's ongoing, but the fight is going to continue. And I think when Congress comes back into session, that's when things are going to maybe get a little bit more tense and there's going to be a little bit more. we'll see a little bit more debate going on between the Democrats and Republicans because I think this is going to be an opportunity for the Trump administration and Senator Mike Lee, who has been really the big one behind this whole rescinding the Home Rule Act for D.C. I think that there's going to be a major push to sort of get that through in order to get reforms as far as the justice system within D.C. because that's that's right there kind of a barrier.

And U.S. attorney, Jean Piro, has mentioned that, especially with the youth crime, is sort of it's kind of a revolving door because they can't really prosecute. They can sort of slap the rest of these and these teens that were behind a lot of these carjacking, a lot of this crime spree. And so I think that it'll be interesting to see what's coming from it. but I think that there was going to be a major fight and that's going to come down to rescinding this. And it'll be interesting. There's going to be all eyes on it is, hey, there's going to be a fight over D.C. statehood.

Then there's going to be, you know, the fight over giving D.C. its autonomy and continuing to give it its autonomy. And so we'll see, we'll see kind of what happens. But I think the next few weeks there's going to be a real push to rescind that D.C. Home Rule Act on Republican side and then the Democrats, Democratic side, it's going to be a push to, you know, to implement, you know, or to make D.C. a 51st state.

I think there's going to be a huge, it's going to be a huge fight ongoing. So we'll see what kind of happens from here. But I think, yeah, just this, right now it's sort of the calm before the storm, I think, in D.C. Has the administration given a clear timeline for when the federalization of D.C. is going to end? or what have they said there? No, there is no, they have not given a timeline as far as when,

how long the National Guard will be there. I mean, based on what it was in 2021, there were National Guard members there from January until about May. There were thousands of National Guard members. There is no absolute timeline, especially with the D.C. National Guard. And there is, and interestingly, there's no price tag either. reached out to the DOD and they didn't really have, they didn't have a figure until, hey, and hell after this mission is complete. So it's no telling how long this is going to be

ongoing. But as far as like the police officers, the federalization, there are almost three dozen law enforcement, federal law enforcement agencies that do have some jurisdiction within the district. So really, that's something new. They can operate around there. Secret Service Uniform Division, Capitol Police, they have some jurisdiction beyond just the Capitol and beyond that they can go around. So Park Police obviously is another one, Amtrak Police, Metro Police, Smithsonian has their own police, all those sort of those places, they have, there's different jurisdictions around the district. So some of them, there's also Federal Protective. services and all these of U.S. Marshals and whatnot. So, I mean, that's, though they can already be

there. They can be doing that stuff. So that issue's not with them. I think it's more than National Guard and how long they'll be there. But yeah, there's no timeline. And the, the White House has said, they've said however long this is going to take. So I don't know if they're thinking until they can get this new law or until they're sort of seeing any sort of change, maybe, maybe winter. I don't know. You know, generally, crimes sometimes has a way of going to going down winter times. So we'll just see from here. We'll see.

But, yeah, it's sort of an open-ended commitment at this time. Okay. Well, thank you for joining us today, Sarah. Listeners can keep up with this story and more at thecentersquare.com.