Trump said the police and troops are doing a ‘fantastic job’ more than a week after he federalized control of the city’s police department.
President Donald Trump met with law enforcement and the National Guard in the nation’s capital on Aug. 21, more than a week after his federal takeover of Washington’s law enforcement.
Assembling in front of the U.S. Park Police Anacostia Operations Facility just after 5 p.m. ET on Thursday, the president brought hamburgers and pizza for roughly 300 officials from the Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA), Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives (ATF), U.S. Marshals Service, National Guard, FBI, Homeland Security Investigations (HSI), and the Washington, D.C., Metropolitan Police.
“You do the job on safety, and I’ll get this place fixed up physically, and we’re going to be so proud of it at the end of six months,” Trump told the crowd.
Earlier in the day, Trump appeared on the Todd Sternes radio show to announce his meeting with law enforcement Thursday night.
The president told Sternes that the military stationed in Washington is doing a “fantastic job” at law enforcement in the nation’s capital.
Trump federalized control of the D.C. Metropolitan Police Department on Aug. 11, ordering about 800 National Guard troops to assist with law enforcement.
“I’m announcing a historic action to rescue our nation’s capital from crime, bloodshed, bedlam, and squalor, and worse,“ Trump said at a White House press briefing at the time.
“This is Liberation Day in D.C., and we’re going to take our capital back.”
Starnes responded to Trump’s news of his plans to go on patrol, pondering whether the president would be given a uniform.
Attorney General Brian Schwalb stated in an Aug. 11 X post that “the Administration’s actions are unprecedented, unnecessary, and unlawful.”
“There is no crime emergency in the District of Columbia,” he said. “Violent crime in DC reached historic 30-year lows last year, and is down another 26% so far this year.”
Ten days after the federal takeover of the city’s law enforcement, Attorney General Pam Bondi offered an update in an Aug. 21 X post: “We’ve now made a total of 630 arrests and seized 86 illegal guns in DC.”
We’ve now made a total of 630 arrests and seized 86 illegal guns in DC.
— Attorney General Pamela Bondi (@AGPamBondi) August 21, 2025
53 arrests were made yesterday, plus 24 ICE arrests and 10 guns taken off the streets. Our incredible @USMarshalsHQ even helped recover a missing child.
Our mission to make DC safe again isn’t slowing down. pic.twitter.com/26tUXGMFFa
She went on to say that 53 arrests were made on Aug. 20, in addition to 24 arrests by the Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) and 10 guns seized. The U.S. Marshals also helped recover a missing child, Bondi said.
