President Donald Trump met with the police and the army in Washington, DC, on Thursday to supervise the increase in the application of the Federal Law and the National Guard, which respond to what he says is an emergency of the crime in the district.
Trump visited the Anacostia Operations Center for the United States Park Police in the southeast of DC, which serves as a meeting point for all the agencies involved in the operation, thanking the officers and members of the Army and delivering hamburgers of the White House and the Pizza.
Trump left the White House in the presidential limousine, nicknamed “The Beast”, with the United States Attorney, Pam Bondi, and the White House Cabinet Deputy Director, Stephen Miller, on Thursday afternoon to visit the facilities.
“I just want to thank everyone for being here,” Trump said. “I wanted to do this. We have had some incredible results that have come out, and it is like a different place. It is like a different city. It is the capital. It will be the best in the world.”
President Donald Trump speaks with federal troops at the Anacostia Operations Center for the United States Park Police in Washington, on August 21, 2025.
Mandel and/AFP
The president spoke for several minutes, promoting his thrust against crime.
“You have to be strong, you have to be hard,” Trump urged the group. “You have to do your job. Whatever necessary to do your job.”
President Donald Trump speaks with federal troops at the Anacostia Operations Center for the United States Park Police in Washington, on August 21, 2025.
Mandel and/AFP
In an earlier radio interview on Thursday, Trump said “I would leave tonight” with the application of the law and the military, but returned to the White House after visiting the facilities.
President Donald Trump speaks with federal troops as Secretary of Interior Doug Burgum and Attorney General PAM Bondi listens to the Anacostia Operations Center for the United States Park Police in Washington, on August 21, 2025.
Jacquelyn Martin/AP
The president mobilized the National Guard a week ago to help the police, claiming that the crime was out of control. The authorities have said that the guard staff is not arrests, just helping to stop people briefly if necessary before delivering them to the police.
Violent crime levels have decreased compared to previous yearsLess than 26% since 2024, a minimum of 30 years, according to crime statistics published by the City Metropolitan Police Department.
Trump told Radio Todd Starnes on Thursday that the deployment of DC was “a kind of test” and indicated that they would copy the model into other cities in America.
“It is working incredibly, much faster than we thought. We have arrested hundreds of criminals, hard -line criminals, people who will never be good,” said the president.
The president said he would put Memphis “early” on the list of the next cities to patrol.
“And, unfortunately, we have many cities like that. But I love you He loves that people would like it to be.
The monument to Washington and the Memorial Lincoln are visible as the National Guard troops walk throughout the National Shopping Center on August 20, 2025 in Washington, DC.
Andrew Harnik/Getty Images
In June, Trump deployed California’s National Guard in Los Angeles amid protests against immigration rags carried out by immigration and customs compliance (ICE). Democratic governor Gavin Newsom sued the administrationAlleging that he violated the Law Posse Commitatus, a law of 1878 that prevented the President from using the military as a Force of the National Police. A failure has not been issued in the case.
Trump continued to say that “he straightened the crime in four days in DC.” The president also rejected criticism about his actions in the capital of the Nation.
“And everything I do, all they do is that they say ‘He is a dictator, it is a dictator’: the place, people are being assaulted by the whole place, and give you false records, such as, it is wonderful and it is worse than it ever was, but we have it in progress. People are so happy. They go to the restaurants again,” he said.
Trump’s comments occurred one day after Vice President JD Vance, Defense Secretary Pete Hegesh and the White House Cabinet Deputy director, Stephen Miller, visited the National Guard at the Union station, where they were drowned by boo of the protesters.
Almost 2,000 DC guards and six states have been mobilized to support Trump’s mission in the capital of the nation. They remain unarmed at this time, but the authorities have said they hope that changes.
Donald Trump speaks during a meeting with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky at the Oval Office of the White House in Washington, DC, on August 18, 2025.
Mandel and/AFP
The troops have been parked outside many tourism points, including the National Mall and Union Station, where It is known that crimes incidents are lower than other parts of the city. Trump and other officials have not given a calendar when the deployment of troops will end.
Vance dismissed on Wednesday the statistics of crimes that showed that the incidents were lower at the Union station. He affirmed that they do not inform the complete scope of the crime in DC
Washington, DC, Mayor Muriel Bowser criticized on Monday to the increase of the Federal Police of the Trump administration in the capital of the nation, qualifying him as political and disconnected motivation from the crime in the city.
“This makes no sense. The numbers in the field and the district do not support 1,000 people from other states that come to Washington, DC,” Bowser said.
Luis Martínez and Anne Flaherty of ABC News contributed to this report.
