U.S. President Donald Trump said he would patrol the streets of Washington, D.C. on Thursday night with the police and military, after deploying National Guard troops in the nation’s capital last week.”I’m going to be going out tonight, I think, with the police, and with the military, of course,” Trump said in an interview with Newsmax reporter Todd Starnes on his radio show.
A White House official said details of Trump’s plans are forthcoming.
Trump deployed thousands of National Guard soldiers and federal agents to the city in an extraordinary assertion of presidential power, citing what he said is a violent crime wave. City officials have rejected the assertion, pointing to federal and city statistics that show violent crime has declined significantly since a spike in 2023.Vice President JD Vance and Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth on Wednesday visited troops at Union Station, Washington’s central train hub, even as protesters gathered at the venue and heckled them with jeers and shouts.
