An investigation is underway after a federal agent fired their weapon during a vehicle pursuit in Northeast D.C. on Thursday, according to D.C. police.
A federal agent fired their weapon during a police pursuit Thursday in Northeast D.C., according to D.C. police.
The incident happened just across the Anacostia River on Benning Road.
A police spokesperson confirmed to WTOP in a statement that as part of the law enforcement surge by President Donald Trump’s administration, D.C. police and federal agency partners in the District worked together to initiate a traffic stop. Officials tried to pull over a driver they said committed a traffic violation at the intersection of Pennsylvania Avenue and Minnesota Avenue in Southeast.
The pursuit began at around 4:45 p.m., when the vehicle fled, police said.
Shortly after, less than 3 miles north, a federal agent involved in the pursuit fired their weapon in the 3400 block of Benning Road in Northeast.
The person authorities were chasing was taken into custody and no one was hurt, police said.
A division of D.C. police’s Internal Affairs Bureau — the Force Investigation Team — is examining the shooting, as it does with all officer-involved shootings in the District. Once the internal division wraps up its investigation, the U.S. Attorney’s Office for D.C. will independently review the case.
WTOP has reached out to the Department of Homeland Security for comment.
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One week after President Donald Trump’s crime emergency declaration in D.C. expired, WTOP’s Kay Perkins breaks down crime data from D.C. police to get to the bottom of the law enforcement surge’s impact on crime in the District.
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In the Anacostia neighborhood, the crime that President Donald Trump has mobilized federal law enforcement to address is something residents would like to see more resources dedicated to. But it’s complicated.
DC Federal Intervention Members of the South Carolina National Guard patrol with the Lincoln Monument in the background, Friday, Sept. 5, 2025, in Washington. (AP Photo/Mariam Zuhaib)
AP Photo/Mariam Zuhaib
DC Federal Intervention Demonstrators protest against President Donald Trump’s deployment of federal law enforcement and National Guard troops in Washington during a march on Saturday, Sept. 6, 2025. (AP Photo/Jose Luis Magana)
AP Photo/Jose Luis Magana
Federal Intervention One Neighborhood Doors are open to NAM’s Market, in the Anacostia neighborhood of Washington, Aug. 30, 2025. (AP Photo/Gary Fields)
AP Photo/Gary Fields
Federal Intervention One Neighborhood Norm Nixon, an associate pastor at Union Temple Baptist Church, poses for a photo in the sanctuary during an Aug. 23, 2025 seniors’ party hosted at the church in Washington. (AP Photo/Gary Fields)
AP Photo/Gary Fields
Federal Intervention One Neighborhood The Border Patrol pulls out of the metro station in the Anacostia neighborhood of Washington, Aug. 30, 2025. (AP Photo/Gary Fields)
AP Photo/Gary Fields
WASHINGTON (AP) — In a swath of the nation’s capital that sits across the tracks, and the river, residents can see the Washington Monument, the Waldorf Astoria — formerly the Trump Hotel — and the U.S. Capitol dome.
What the people of Anacostia cannot see are the National Guard units patrolling those areas. And they don’t see them patrolling on this side of the Anacostia River, either.
In this storied region of Washington, home to Frederick Douglass, the crime that President Donald Trump has mobilized federal law enforcement to address is something residents would like to see more resources dedicated to. But it’s complicated.
“We do need protection here,” said Mable Carter, 82. “I have to come down on the bus. It’s horrifying.”
There might be military units patrolling Union Station and public spaces where tourists often come, she said, but “none of them over here. They are armed — on the Mall. Ain’t nobody doing nothing on the Mall. It’s for show.”
Carter wants to see more police in this area — the city’s own police, under the direction of Chief Pamela Smith. “I’d rather see them give her a chance. She has the structure in place.”
The Pentagon, when asked if there were plans to deploy the National Guard to higher crime areas like Anacostia and who determines that, sent a list of stations where the military units were present as of late last month. None of those deployments included stations east of the Anacostia River.
In response to a question of whether those deployments had been extended, or whether there were plans to do so White House spokeswoman Taylor Rogers said that federal law enforcement members have been working the wards east of the river, including involvement in the arrests of several suspects wanted for violent crimes, including a first-degree murder warrant.
“As we have said since the beginning of the operation, National Guard troops are not making arrests at this time, but federal law enforcement officers will continue getting criminals off the streets and making the communities safer,” Rogers said.
A neighborhood caught in the middle
Over the course of two weekends east of the river, in conversations with groups and individuals, including a senior’s gathering at Union Temple Baptist Church, a theme emerged.
Like Carter, people would like more law enforcement resources, but they distrust the motives behind the surge and how it has usurped the authority of the mayor and local officers. And while they acknowledge crime is more serious here than most other areas of the district, it is nowhere near the levels of three decades ago, when the D.C. National Guard worked with the Metropolitan Police to address the violence.
This year’s homicides in the district, as of Friday, were at 104, a 17% decrease from 126 as of Sept. 5 last year. But, more than 60% of them are in the two wards that are almost exclusively east of the Anacostia River, including 38 in Ward 8, according to the Metropolitan Police Department crime mapping tool. That proportion is about the same as it was in 2024 when there were 187 homicides citywide for the year. One of the most notable murders was a double homicide that left two teens lying dead on the street and a third man wounded.
“I just called the police the other night,” said Henny, 42, who owns NAM’s Market.
He said a group of teenagers attempted to rob his store after casing it throughout the day. He called police and said they asked him if they were armed. “I didn’t see a weapon,” he said, adding that no patrol officers responded.
The store owner said he has been here about 10 years and been victimized multiple times but thinks it is getting worse now. He does not give his last name out of fear.
“What worries me is to make sure they’re not coming back,” he said. “There are a lot of things going on.” Asked if he feels safe he said, “Absolutely not.”
He has pepper spray but has been told by authorities not to use it, he said. When he heard of the federal law enforcement and National Guard arrival, “To be honest, I said that’s good — but that’s not over here. It’s getting worse. The city says crime is down but I don’t see it.”
‘The rampage with guns is nothing new’
A block away, Rosie Hyde’s perspective is different. The ashes of one of the 75-year-old widow’s sons are spread around her property. Samuel Johnson was killed about three miles away on April 20, 1991. The case is still open.
Hyde, a retired probation officer for the city, said her son died during that epidemic of gun violence. “That was 35 years ago,” she said. “That tells you the rampage with guns is nothing new.”
Homicides topped 400 annually in 1989 and stayed there through 1996, according to the district’s Office of the Chief Medical Examiner. Aggravated assaults were also at record totals.
Hyde believes Trump is after the optics in areas where he will get attention — at the train station, on the Mall, in areas with a concentration of tourists. “They haven’t been over here like that,” she said.
The majestic home of Frederick Douglass is here, offering a panoramic view of other parts of the city west of the river. Farther east is the Smithsonian’s Anacostia Community Museum. The plaque outside says as much about this moment as it does about history: The museum, it says, “aspires to illuminate and share the untold and often overlooked stories of people furthest from opportunity in the Greater Washington, D.C. region.”
Federal agents are in this area working with local authorities, including FBI agents and Border Patrol, as well as Metro Transit Authority police. Along Martin Luther King Jr. Avenue, a major thoroughfare in Anacostia, new buildings mix with older ones and small groups of people mill about, drinking from bottles and with the occasional smell of marijuana. But it is relatively quiet.
At one point, a large group of National Guard members climbs out of a van at the Anacostia Metro station, but they catch the train heading west back beneath the river. While troops are stationed at 18 stops, the last one on the green line is the Navy Yard-Ballpark station, the final one west of the river.
Guard presence has precedent in this neighborhood
There was a time when the Guard was here — or, more precisely, above it. During the high crime years, the D.C. National Guard worked with District police; officers flew aboard the Guard’s helicopters directing patrol units to crime scenes.
Norm Nixon, an associate pastor at Union Temple Baptist Church, said there are federal agents around, but their presence is not constant and no military uniforms are seen on the streets. He said local officers who try to push community policing — communicating with residents and acknowledging their concerns — will probably get blowback because of the federal presence.
He, like others, questions why Trump decided to federalize the city when violence is present virtually everywhere, including in rural areas where drugs and economic hardships have created fertile ground for lawlessness.
“The president needs to have these initiatives to make it seem like something is happening, almost like he’s got to make news,” Nixon said, adding that he is also concerned about the focus on rousting the homeless population. “What happened to those people? Are they receiving services?”
Vernon Hancock, a church elder and trustee attending a senior’s day party, said he believes Trumps’ actions are a test. “Washington, D.C., is easy because it is federal and he has the authority to do what he’s doing,” Hancock said. “It is a federal city so he can just take over. But he wants to take this to other cities and spread this.”
___
Associated Press writer Konstantin Toropin contributed to this report.
Gov. Wes Moore (D) said Wednesday he would be willing to accept help from the federal government to fight crime in Baltimore, just not through the deployment of National Guard troops as President Donald Trump (R) has repeatedly threatened.
Gov. Wes Moore (D) said Wednesday he would be willing to accept help from the federal government to fight crime in Baltimore, just not through the deployment of National Guard troops as President Donald Trump (R) has repeatedly threatened.
Moore was responding to Tuesday comments by Trump during a rambling news conference in which he called Baltimore and Chicago crime “hellholes” that needed the presence of federal troops, a deployment he insists he has the authority to order, despite governors and a federal court saying otherewise.
Moore and Baltimore City Mayor Brandon Scott (D) have said repeatedly that rates of homicides and gun violence are declining in the city, but admit there is still work to be done.
Moore said Wednesday using the National Guard to fight crime, as Trump wants to do, would be “performative” and “ridiculous.” He said other federal agencies, such as the FBI and the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives, make more sense for crime-fighting.
“If you want to have a serious conversation about things that the federal government could provide that could be helpful, it could be FBI and ATF support … Those are always useful, and we’re still working in partnership with them,” Moore said in response to reporters’ questions at an unrelated event in Columbia.
“But I’m not going to do things just because it makes people feel good or because we think that people walking around in military fatigues and a long gun somehow makes communities safe,” he said. “Having members of the Guard picking up trash and raking mulch is not a useful spread of resources.”
The trash and raking comment was a reference to the presence of National Guard troops that Trump deployed to Washington, D.C., last month. Guard members, from D.C. and other states, don’t have arrest powers, so some have been assigned to beautification duties, such as raking and trash pickup.
But Trump called the presence of federal troops in Washington a success, pointing to a drop in major crimes in the city since their deployment.
“It serves as a template – and we’re going to do it elsewhere,” Trump said of the troop presence.
D.C. Mayor Muriel Bowser, like Moore and Scott, has argued that crime was already falling in the city before the troops showed up. But she acknowledged this week that the federal presence has helped drive down crime rates even more, earning praise from Trump.
Bowser is in a tough spot, however: While governors control their states’ National Guard troops, the D.C. Guard is under the control of the president, who can deploy them for 30 days in an emergency. And as those 30 days draw to a close, it appears the GOP-controlled Congress is prepared to extend the president’s authority to keep troops on the street.
Bowser on Tuesday issued an executive order outlining a “path forward beyond the presidential emergency” for city officials to “ensure coordination with federal law enforcement to the maximum extent allowable by law within the District.”
It specifically named federal law enforcement agencies — the FBI, ATF, U.S. Park Police, Drug Enforcement Administration, Capitol Police and the Secret Service. Left out were references to the National Guard or the Immigration and Customs Enforcement officers who have also surged into the city, often masked and poorly identified as they make high-profile public arrests.
Bowser’s order said that in order to “maintain community confidence” in law enforcement, any federal authorities going forward should not wear masks, should identify their agencies and themselves as they make arrests or otherwise interact with the public.
When asked Wednesday if he would accept a National Guard presence, if it meant that help from other federal agencies would also be provided, Moore rejected the notion.
“I would hope the president is more serious of a leader than to say, ‘The only way I’ll give you something that’s useful is to give you something ridiculous,’” Moore said.
“The National Guard is not trained for this. The National Guard is trained for things like natural disasters and emergencies and deploying overseas,” he said. “I have too much respect for the members of our National Guard to put them on missions they are not trained for.”
It’s the latest round in weeks of verbal sparring between Moore and Trump that has been been escalating since the president sent National Guard troops to the District.
It was revived Tuesday, when a reporter asked Trump if he planned to deploy the National Guard to Chicago. In his reply, Trump looped in Baltimore, describing both cities as “a hellhole right now” citing gun violence, homicides and other crimes.
Without saying when, Trump said he planned to send troops into Chicago — despite fierce opposition from the governor and mayor there — and insisted that “we have a right to do it, and that includes Baltimore.” But he also said it would be better if Moore and Illinois Gov. J.B. Pritzker asked for the help.
“I would love to have Gov. Moore call, because I watched him over the weekend trying to explain, ‘Baltimore, what we need is housing,’” Trump said. “No, they don’t need housing. They need to get rid of the criminals
“These are hard-core criminals,” he said. “They’re not going to be good in 10 years, in five years, in 20 years, in two years they’re going to be criminals. They were born to be criminals.”
Moore, who had just announced an executive order Wednesday aimed at speeding government approval for new affordable housing developments, said it was “sad” that the president didn’t appreciate how reducing the state’s housing shortage plays into crime reduction.
“What we’re doing is actually working to reduce the stem of violence,” Moore said.
Listen as U.S. Attorney Jeanine Pirro talks about President Donald Trump’s law enforcement surge and crime in D.C. with WTOP’s Michelle Basch and Mark Lewis.
As President Donald Trump’s federal law enforcement surge in D.C. continues, new numbers show more than 1,000 arrests have been made in the first two weeks.
More than 300 people have been arrested on immigration-related charges.
U.S. Attorney Jeanine Pirro, who is D.C.’s top prosecutor, is the person responsible for prosecuting most criminal cases in the District. She joined WTOP’s Michelle Basch and Mark Lewis on Tuesday morning.
You can listen below.
U.S. Attorney Jeanine Pirro talks about President Donald Trump’s law enforcement surge and crime in D.C. with WTOP’s Michelle Basch and Mark Lewis. (8/26/25)
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D.C. Delegate Eleanor Holmes Norton is calling for the Pentagon to provide an estimate of the cost of deploying 2,000 National Guard personnel in the District during the federal law enforcement surge against crime.
D.C. Del. Eleanor Holmes Norton is calling for the Pentagon to provide an estimate of the cost of deploying 2,000 National Guard personnel in the District during the federal law enforcement surge against crime.
Norton sent a letter on Monday to Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth and the Chief of the National Guard Bureau, Gen. Steven Nordhaus, outlining her opposition to the deployment.
“A tenet of our democracy is that the military does not engage in civilian law enforcement, and it is not trained to do so in any case, which puts service members and the public at risk,” she said. “I urge you to end this gross abuse of power and withdraw the troops immediately.”
The Democratic lawmaker questioned the legal basis for sending in the National Guard, seeking more information about its scope and mission, as well as the cost.
President Donald Trump has held out the possibility of keeping the National Guard in D.C. beyond 30 days, which requires the approval of Congress.
Cost may be close to $1 million a day
The Pentagon so far has not provided a formal estimate of what the National Guard deployment is costing. But a past deployment in D.C. may provide some guidance.
In 2020, Trump ordered the deployment of more than 5,000 National Guard personnel to support law enforcement during demonstrations that took place in the wake of the killing of George Floyd, a Black man who died after a Minneapolis police officer pinned him under his knee.
After the protests, U.S. officials told Reuters it cost about $530 per guard member, per day, to be deployed.
The D.C. National Guard said it cost roughly $2.6 million a day for the 5,000 National Guard troops that were deployed five years ago.
The Trump administration and many Republican lawmakers credit the presence of the National Guard with helping to decrease crime in the District over the past two weeks.
But some military veterans from Ohio — one of the six states that have sent in guard personnel — said on Monday that they oppose the deployment.
On a media conference call, they argued that the deployment sets a dangerous precedent and potentially undermines the readiness of guard units in their home states.
“I think it goes without saying that if our citizen-soldiers wanted to become (MPD officers) or ICE agents, they would have signed up for that instead of the National Guard,” said Jermaine Collins, a former Ohio National Guard member who now lives in D.C.
The president, meanwhile, is still holding open the possibility of sending the National Guard to other cities, including Baltimore and Chicago. In response to a reporter’s question, he also said he would be open to sending National Guard units to red states with crime problems. But he suggested major cities led by Democrats have larger problems.
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About 100 people crammed the Columbia Heights Civic Plaza in Northwest D.C. on Friday afternoon, calling for unity against the federal surge by President Donald Trump.
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Faith leaders call for unity amid DC’s federal surge
About 100 people crammed the Columbia Heights Civic Plaza in Northwest D.C. on Friday afternoon, calling for unity against the federal surge by President Donald Trump.
The “Multi-Faith Prayer Vigil for Healing and Justice” event brought together religious leaders from around the region to speak on their disapproval of the Trump administration’s recent actions in D.C., including the growing number of law enforcement officials and the displacement of the city’s homeless population.
“The power that is animated by hate can never, never, ever triumph over a power that is built with love,” said Rabbi Aaron Alexander, of Adas Israel Congregation.
During the prayer vigil, attendees brought signs denouncing the Trump administration’s actions and asked for the president to end his actions. Federal authorities have set up checkpoints around the city, sometimes asking people for their immigration status and detaining them.
DC residents need to fight back
Religious leaders called on residents to fight back against intimidating actions.
“But it’s going to take far more than protests to reclaim the beauty of this place,” Alexander said.
Pastor Donna Claycomb Sokol, of Mount Vernon Place United Methodist Church, spoke out against the removal of the city’s homeless population, stating their security was set aside “all in the name of beauty.”
Joani Horchler traveled from Cheverly, Maryland, to be part of the vigil, carrying a sign attacking Trump’s claim that the surge is designed to improve the District’s crime levels: “If you cared about crime, you wouldn’t have attacked the Capitol on Jan. 6.”
“Now, he is going to take over D.C., and it’s not right,” she said.
D.C.’s shadow representative Oye Owolewa told WTOP he was proud to see the number of people in the crowd, which led him to interrupt the proceedings to get them off the road and into the plaza. He added that the amount of minority faces voicing support for D.C. statehood and against Trump’s actions is a strong contrast to the description of “elderly white hippies” White House Chief of Staff Stephen Miller called D.C. protesters.
“It was really good to see a crowd of people who looked like me but are united on a common mission, which is controlling our own destiny,” Owolewa said.
The crowd was encouraged to stay in contact with their faith-based communities for additional events in the future. Priscilla Soto said she hopes events like the vigil could unite more people than those who don’t like Trump.
“I would like to reach out to all those people who are supporting him and hope that they come to the point that enough is enough,” she said.
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It’s the second full week of a federal law enforcement surge ordered in D.C. by the administration of President Donald Trump and it’s still only just the beginning. Here’s what to know.
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Weekly breakdown: How much control does President Trump have over DC police?
It’s the second full week of a federal law enforcement surge ordered in D.C. by the administration of President Donald Trump and it’s still only just the beginning. This week has seen everything from a Humvee crushing a commercial vehicle, to “Biggest Loser” trainer Jillian Michaels igniting a firestorm on CNN by defending Trump’s controversial push to censor Smithsonian exhibits on slavery.
So where does the city stand now? Let’s break it down:
Monday
Trump said the reason for the increased police presence was to combat crime in D.C. that he described as “very out of control” — and that has headlined global newscasts.
He boasted Monday that people are now more comfortable going to dinner in the District, saying, “the restaurants, the last two days, were busier than they’ve been in a long time.” Data from OpenTable, however, disproved that and showed an average 25.67% decrease in restaurant reservations in the city.
Mayor Muriel Bowser continued to double down that crime in the District is at a 30-year low. At a press conference Monday, Bowser said there is “no takeover” of the city, but rather a surge in federal law enforcement that was coordinating with D.C. police and Chief Pamela Smith.
“It doesn’t make sense. You know it doesn’t make sense,” Bowser said of the law enforcement deployment intended to quell what Trump called a surge in crime, which is not supported by statistics.
By Monday, a total of six states approved the deployment of their National Guard troops to D.C.:
West Virginia – 400
South Carolina – 200
Ohio – 150
Mississippi – 200
Tennessee – 160
Louisiana – 135
President Donald Trump waits to greet Ukraine’s President Volodymyr Zelenskyy at the White House, Monday, Aug. 18, 2025, in Washington.
(AP Photo/Julia Demaree Nikhinson)
AP Photo/Julia Demaree Nikhinson
Armed officers prepare to place handcuffs on a man from within an apartment complex, Tuesday, Aug. 19, 2025, in the Petworth neighborhood of northwest Washington. The officers pictured had “Washington Field Office” on their shirts underneath tactical gear that said Police.
(AP Photo/Jacquelyn Martin)
AP Photo/Jacquelyn Martin
Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth meet with members of the National Guard at Union Station in Washington, Wednesday, Aug. 20, 2025.
(Alexander Drago/Pool via AP)
Alexander Drago/Pool via AP
A person rallies against President Donald Trump’s use of federal law enforcement and National Guard troops in Washington, Thursday, Aug. 21, 2025, in Washington.
(AP Photo/Julia Demaree Nikhinson)
AP Photo/Julia Demaree Nikhinson
U.S. Attorney for the District of Columbia Jeanine Pirro waits for President Donald Trump to arrive to speak with members of law enforcement and National Guard soldiers, Thursday, Aug. 21, 2025, in Washington.
(AP Photo/Jacquelyn Martin)
AP Photo/Jacquelyn Martin
Members of the District of Columbia National Guard patrol Chinatown metro station in downtown Washington, Friday, Aug. 22, 2025.
(AP Photo/Jose Luis Magana)
AP Photo/Jose Luis Magana
Now, over 2,000 National Guard members are estimated to be in D.C.
Asked whether she thought sending in the guard from other states diminished her authority, Bowser said: “I don’t have any authority over the D.C. Guard or any other Guards, but I think it is, kind of makes the point that this is not about D.C. crime.”
Tuesday
On Tuesday, the Department of Justice opened an investigation into whether police officials in D.C. falsified data to make crime data appear lower than in reality, the New York Times reported.
Despite Trump’s claims that violent crime is getting worse, the city’s former U.S. attorney, Ed Martin, reported in April that D.C. police data showed a 25% decrease in violent crime. Jeanine Pirro, the city’s current U.S. attorney, joined the president in zeroing in on D.C.’s crime laws, especially those involving minors.
In line with his March executive order, a task force delegated to make D.C. “safe, beautiful and prosperous” has streamlined the city’s concealed carry permitting process and Pirro’s office will no longer bring felony charges against people for possessing rifles or shotguns.
“We will continue to seize all illegal and unlicensed firearms, and to vigorously prosecute all crimes connected with them,” Pirro said, adding that she and Trump “are committed to prosecuting gun crime.”
Wednesday
The increased federal law enforcement presence in D.C. expanded Wednesday as Vice President JD Vance and Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth joined soldiers at Union Station.
“You guys are doing a hell of a job,” Vance told the troops assembled at the station’s Shake Shack. While protest chants echoed through the restaurant, he rejected polling that shows city residents don’t support the National Guard deployment as a solution to crime.
Stephen Miller, the White House’s deputy chief of staff, called those protesting outside the station and federal buildings “elderly, white hippies,” and said, “They’re no part of this city and never have been.”
“We’re going to ignore these stupid white hippies. They all need to go home and take a nap because they’re all over 90 years old,” Miller added.
Hours earlier, not far away in the Capitol Hill neighborhood, a sand-colored Humvee vehicle collided with a car, trapping the driver and sending them to the hospital with minor injuries.
In a video at the scene of the incident, an SUV with substantial damage and the Humvee can be seen at the intersection. The massive military transport, designed to withstand improvised explosive devices in war zones, towered over the crushed silver sport utility vehicle.
A woman can be heard saying, “You come into our city, and this is what you do?!”
At a D.C. Public Schools event, Bowser pivoted from the celebration at hand, answering a reporter’s question about the state of the nation’s capital simply with, “There has been no takeover.”
Thursday
Federal authorities also set up checkpoints around D.C. as some locals were detained after being asked about their immigration status. The development marked a furtherance of Trump’s crackdown on the alleged “crime crisis” in the city.
Since Aug. 7, when Trump began surging federal agents into the District, the White House said there have been 630 arrests, including that of 251 people who are in the country illegally.
A White House official told WTOP that between Aug. 9 and Aug. 17, there had been a total of 212 non-immigration related arrests. Of those, 101 arrests were in Wards 7 and 8.
Trump said he’d join troops on their patrols on Thursday. Instead, he spoke to them at the U.S. Park Police’s facility in Anacostia, handing out pizza and taking photos with service members.
“We’re going to make (D.C.) safe, and we’re going to go on to other places, but we’re going to stay here for a while,” he said. “One of the things we are going to be redoing is your parks. I’m very good at grass, because I have a lot of golf courses all over the place.”
Shortly after the speech, he returned to the White House in a motorcade, without patrolling any D.C. streets.
Friday
In a post on Instagram on Friday, Pirro said a total of 719 people have been arrested and 91 guns have been taken off the streets since Aug. 11.
She noted that this surge of law enforcement in the city all started from an attempted carjacking and attack of a former “Department of Government Efficiency” employee.
The two teenagers from Maryland who are accused of attacking the former DOGE employee were granted “step down” detention, which is a shift from secure juvenile custody to less restrictive arrangements.
“This is exactly what I’m talking about. This is why I want jurisdiction of these cases, because as a prosecutor, it’s time to prosecute these individuals so they get an understand the consequences of what they have done,” Pirro said.
In another escalation of the Trump administration’s changes to the city’s policing forces, Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth ordered that National Guard troops patrolling D.C. streets can be armed.
There were no signs that the National Guard’s role in D.C. would be changing. The troops have not taken part in law enforcement and largely have been protecting landmarks including the National Mall and Union Station and helping with crowd control.
Bowser spoke with WTOP’s Scott Gelman on Friday, saying the National Guard shouldn’t be used for policing, and: “I think there are some legal questions that are going to be raised by that.”
The Associated Press contributed to this report.
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D.C. Mayor Muriel Bowser is responding to criticisms about crime data in the city and reacting to a plan for National Guard members to start carrying weapons.
D.C. Mayor Muriel Bowser is responding to criticisms about crime data in the city and reacting to a plan for National Guard members to start carrying weapons.
Speaking exclusively to WTOP at a back-to-school event at the RFK Campus, Bowser said city leaders have been reporting data that the Justice Department confirms, adding, “We’re going to keep doing the same things that we do.”
Bowser’s comments came at the end of the second full week of President Donald Trump’s law enforcement surge in the city. On Friday afternoon, Trump said the extra law enforcement presence is working and that there were no murders in D.C. in the last week.
“I’m tired of listening to these people say how safe it was before we got here,” Trump said from the Oval Office on Friday. “It was unsafe. It was horrible. And Mayor Bowser better get her act straight or she won’t be mayor very long because we’ll take it over with the federal government, run it like it’s supposed to be run.”
When asked about the criticism of the city’s grasp on crime and the law enforcement surge, Bowser said her “position is the same. I know a bob and weave when I hear one.”
While D.C. leaders maintain that crime is at a 30-year low, Trump said the city was “extremely unsafe, and now it’s extremely safe. We had virtually no crime. The number was down 87% and I’m trying to figure out where was the 13% because I don’t think it existed.”
Meanwhile, National Guard troops tasked with roaming D.C. streets as part of the increased presence will start carrying weapons, a reversal in initial policy. Bowser said the National Guard shouldn’t be used for policing, and “I think there are some legal questions that are going to be raised by that.”
Speaking broadly about issues with the law enforcement surge, Bowser said there are “many concerns about the intrusion of our autonomy, but the characterization of our beautiful city as a dirty city is preposterous.”
Trump said Friday he’s planning to ask Congress for $2 billion to carry out his plans to make improvements across the city.
“We have the No. 1 park system in the United States, that includes our federal parks and our local parks,” Bowser said. “We welcome the president getting more money to support federal parks. That should have been happening all along, and so if he’s able to deliver that for Washington, D.C., that’s a great thing.”
Bowser confirmed a Washington Post report that Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents are joining D.C. police officers on traffic stops involving mopeds, saying it’s “not new. We’ve been talking about that for two weeks.”
When asked about an image of Bowser and D.C. police Chief Pamela Smith greeting White House Deputy Chief of Staff Stephen Miller, Bowser said it was nothing more than a handshake.
“I talked to him, but I wouldn’t call it a meeting. And if it was, I wouldn’t be talking about it right now,” she added.
She declined to share details of the conversation, instead saying, “We always talk with the administration about shared priorities.”
Separately, as D.C. students prepare to return to the classroom Monday, Bowser said she’s “hearing from a lot of parents that the same (supplies) list is about 50% more expensive. These tariffs are starting to hit American families.”
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Federal authorities have used checkpoints around the nation’s capital to screen vehicles, sometimes asking people for their immigration status after stopping them, as President Donald Trump’s crackdown reaches the two-week mark in Washington.
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Trump visits National Guard troops in DC, vows city will be ‘maxed out in terms of beauty’
WASHINGTON (AP) — Federal authorities have set up checkpoints around the nation’s capital, sometimes asking people for their immigration status and detaining them, as President Donald Trump’s crackdown ensnares more residents each day.
Trump claimed that a crime crisis required his Republican administration’s intervention in the Democratic-led city this month, brushing aside statistics that showed the problem was already waning. However, immigration enforcement appears to be a priority, as more than a third of people arrested in the last two weeks were in the country illegally, according to the White House.
Hundreds of federal agents and National Guard soldiers have surged into Washington, leaving some residents on edge and creating tense confrontations in the streets.
A day care center was partially closed Thursday when staff became afraid to go to work because they heard about federal agents nearby. An administrator asked parents to keep their children at home if possible.
Other day cares have stopped taking kids on daily walks because of fears about encountering law enforcement.
Trump visits cops and troops
The White House said there have been 630 arrests, including 251 people who are in the country illegally, since Aug. 7, when Trump began surging federal agents into the city. Trump has been ratcheting up the pressure since then, seizing control of the D.C. police department on Aug. 11 and deploying more National Guard troops, mostly from Republican-led states.
On Thursday evening, Trump visited with officers and troops at a U.S. Park Police facility in the latest show of force from the White House.
“We’re not playing games,” he said.
Trump suggested that operations in the city could be drawn out and serve as a model for others around the country.
“We’re going to make it safe, and we’re going to go on to other places, but we’re going to stay here for a while,” he said.
Soldiers have been largely stationed in downtown areas, such as monuments on the National Mall and transit stations. However, federal agents are operating more widely through the city. D.C. Mayor Muriel Bowser acknowledged the proliferation of traffic checkpoints Thursday.
“The surge of federal officers is allowing for different types of deployments, more frequent types of deployments, like checkpoints,” Bowser said.
A crowd of people gathered outside a municipal office building to protest Trump’s crackdown, waving signs and cheering speakers who denounced the president’s plans. Their numbers swelled into the hundreds until police closed off nearby streets. When the rally ended, many remained to dance and listen to music.
In other neighborhoods Thursday evening, residents banged pots and pans on rooftops, front steps and street corners.
Not a normal traffic stop
On Thursday morning, as Martin Romero rode through Washington’s Rock Creek Park on his way to a construction job in Virginia, he saw police on the road up ahead. He figured it was a normal traffic stop, but it wasn’t.
Romero, 41, said U.S. Park Police were telling pickup trucks with company logos to pull over, reminding them that commercial vehicles weren’t allowed on park roads. They checked for licenses and insurance information, and then U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents came over.
Romero said there were two agents on one side of his truck and three on the other. He started to get nervous as the agents asked where they were from and whether they were in the country illegally.
“We just came here to work,” Romero said afterwards. “We aren’t doing anything bad.”
Two people in his truck were detained and the agents didn’t give a reason, he said. He also saw three other people taken from other vehicles.
“I feel really worried because they took two of our guys,” he said. “They wouldn’t say where they’re taking them or if they’ll be able to come back.”
Romero said he called his boss, who told him to just head home. They wouldn’t be working today.
Enrique Martinez, a supervisor at the construction company, came to the scene afterwards. He pondered whether to call families of the detained men.
“This has never happened to our company before,” Martinez said. “I’m not really sure what to do.”
Checkpoints are legal, to a point
The Supreme Court has upheld the use of law enforcement and government checkpoints for specific purposes, such as policing the border and identifying suspected drunk drivers.
But there are restrictions on that authority, especially when it comes to general crime control. Jeffrey Bellin, a former prosecutor in Washington and professor at Vanderbilt Law School who specializes in criminal law and procedures, said the Constitution doesn’t allow “the government to be constantly checking us and stopping to see if we’re up to any criminal activity.”
He said checkpoints for a legally justifiable purpose — like checking for driver’s licenses and registrations — cannot be used as “subterfuge” or a pretext for stops that would otherwise not be allowed. And though the court has affirmed the use of checkpoints at the border, and even some distance away from it, to ask drivers about immigration status, Bellin said it was unlikely the authority would extend to Washington.
Anthony Michael Kreis, a professor at Georgia State College of Law, said the seemingly “arbitrary” and intrusive nature of the checkpoints in the capital could leave residents feeling aggrieved.
“Some of the things could be entirely constitutional and fine, but at the same time, the way that things are unfolding, people are suspicious — and I think for good reason,” he said.
Lilly Burchfield, 25, said she’s seen people in her neighborhood come out of their homes to yell at federal agents.
“It feels like we’re all coming together as a community and everyone that I’ve talked to has been outraged by what’s happening,” she said.
From Los Angeles to D.C.
There are few places in the country that have been unaffected by Trump’s deportation drive, but his push into D.C. is shaping into something more sustained, similar to what has unfolded in the Los Angeles area since early June.
In Los Angeles, immigration officers — working with the Border Patrol and other federal agencies — have been a near-daily presence at Home Depots, car washes and other highly visible locations.
In a demonstration of how enforcement has affected routines, the bishop of San Bernardino, California, formally excused parishioners of their weekly obligation to attend Mass after immigration agents detained people on two parish properties.
Immigration officials have been an unusually public presence, sending horse patrols to the city’s famed MacArthur Park and appearing outside California Gov. Gavin Newsom’s news conference last week on congressional redistricting. Authorities said an agent fired at a moving vehicle last week after the driver refused to roll down his window during an immigration stop.
The National Guard and Marines were previously in the city for weeks on an assignment to maintain order amid protests.
A federal judge blocked the administration from conducting indiscriminate immigration stops in Southern California but authorities have vowed to keep the pressure on.
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Associated Press writers Eric Tucker, Ashraf Khalil, Matt Brown and Joey Cappelletti in Washington and Elliot Spagat in San Diego contributed reporting.
Trump District of Columbia Between a now empty pickup truck and what’s left of his work crew at right, Martin Romero, 41, of Glen Burnie, Md., talks to his boss on the phone after his work crew was stopped by Park Police during a traffic stop near Rock Creek Park, and two of the workers in their truck were taken away by ICE, Thursday, Aug. 21, 2025, in Washington. “I feel desperate for my co-workers, for their families,” says Romero, who also said he saw five workers taken at the stop. (AP Photo/Jacquelyn Martin)
AP Photo/Jacquelyn Martin
Trump District of Columbia Martin Romero, 41, of Glen Burnie, Md., talks to the members of his work crew who are left after they were stopped by Park Police during a traffic stop near Rock Creek Park, and two of the workers in their truck were taken away by ICE, Thursday, Aug. 21, 2025, in Washington. “I feel desperate for my co-workers, for their families,” says Romero. (AP Photo/Jacquelyn Martin)
AP Photo/Jacquelyn Martin
Trump District of Columbia A Washington Metropolitan Police Department special operations division officer directs traffic during a checkpoint on New York Avenue in northeast Washington, Wednesday, Aug. 20, 2025, (AP Photo/Julia Demaree Nikhinson)
AP Photo/Julia Demaree Nikhinson
Trump District of Columbia Washington Metropolitan Police Department special operations division officers arrest a person during a traffic checkpoint on New York Avenue in northeast Washington, Wednesday, Aug. 20, 2025. (AP Photo/Julia Demaree Nikhinson)
AP Photo/Julia Demaree Nikhinson
APTOPIX Trump District of Columbia South Carolina National Guardsmen patrol at the base of the Washington Monument, Wednesday, Aug. 20, 2025, in Washington. (AP Photo/Julia Demaree Nikhinson)
AP Photo/Julia Demaree Nikhinson
Trump District of Columbia Hannah Hessel, Izzy, Joan and Andrew Ratner bang pots and pans on their porch in protest of President Donald Trump’s use of federal law enforcement and National Guard troops in Washington, Wednesday, Aug. 20, 2025, in Washington. (AP Photo/Julia Demaree Nikhinson)
AP Photo/Julia Demaree Nikhinson
Trump District of Columbia Officers from various federal agencies including Homeland Security Investigations, FBI, Department of Homeland Security from the Boston Field Office, and U.S. Park Police prepare for patrols at the U.S. Park Police Rock Creek Station, Thursday, Aug. 21, 2025, in Washington. (AP Photo/Jacquelyn Martin)
AP Photo/Jacquelyn Martin
DC Housing Program District of Columbia Mayor Muriel Bowser speaks during a news conference at the opening of a new housing shelter for homeless adults, Thursday, August. 21, 2025, in Washington. (AP Photo/Jose Luis Magana)
AP Photo/Jose Luis Magana
Trump District of Columbia President Donald Trump speaks with members of law enforcement and National Guard soldiers, Thursday, Aug. 21, 2025, in Washington, as Interior Secretary Doug Burgum and Attorney General Pam Bondi listen. (AP Photo/Jacquelyn Martin)
AP Photo/Jacquelyn Martin
APTOPIX Trump District of Columbia President Donald Trump speaks with members of law enforcement and National Guard soldiers, Thursday, Aug. 21, 2025, in Washington. (AP Photo/Jacquelyn Martin)
AP Photo/Jacquelyn Martin
Trump District of Columbia People protest with go-go music against President Donald Trump’s use of federal law enforcement and National Guard troops along the U street corridor in northwest Washington Thursday, Aug. 21, 2025. (AP Photo/Jose Luis Magana)
AP Photo/Jose Luis Magana
Trump District of Columbia Nadine Seiler of Waldorf, Md., protests against President Donald Trump’s use of federal law enforcement and National Guard troops along the U street corridor in northwest Washington Thursday, Aug. 21, 2025. (AP Photo/Jose Luis Magana)
