President Trump Brings Pizza, Burgers to Visit with D.C. Police, National Guard

By John T. Bennett

Source CQ-Roll Call

Donald Trump is not quite the patrolman in chief, but he did meet Thursday with personnel implementing his law enforcement crackdown inside Washington, D.C.

In his showman’s fashion, he had suggested earlier in the day that he would walk the beat with police officers and National Guard members who have been patrolling the city’s streets since early last week.

Instead, Trump addressed a group of uniformed personnel outside a U.S. Park Police operations center in Washington’s Anacostia neighborhood for about 10 minutes. Snipers were seen on the roof, and some of the personnel took pictures and filmed videos on their phones.

Waiting for him when he arrived in the armored presidential limousine were personnel from the Washington Metropolitan Police Department, National Guard, Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives, FBI, U.S. Secret Service, U.S. Marshals Service, Department of Homeland Security, and U.S. Drug Enforcement Agency, according to pool reporters traveling with the president. Trump brought the personnel cheeseburgers prepared by the White House chef’s staff and around 100 pizzas from Wiseguys.

“It’s like a different place. It’s like a different city. It’s the capital. It’s going to be the best in the world. We’re going to do what you’re doing with law enforcement, and very importantly, also, we’re going to physically do it,” he told the agents, officers and troops. “We’re going back to Congress for some money, and we’re going to redo a lot of the pavement, a lot of the medians, a lot of the graffitis, all coming off real fast. It’s going to come down real fast.

“And when people come in from the airport all the way to the Capitol, the White House, or any place else they go, and they say, 'Well, this place is spotless,' so we’re doing that,” Trump added. “You got to be strong, you got to be tough. You got to do your job. Whatever it takes to do your job. You got to do your job.”

The president contended “the crime numbers are way down” inside the district, calling it a model for possible similar actions in other major American cities.

“I feel very safe now, and I’m hearing people are very safe, but I know within two weeks it’s going to be, within two weeks, it’s going to be … even far superior,” he said, dropping a period of time that has become a verbal crutch when he discusses his plans. “I just wanted to thank you for what you’re doing.”

As for how long the D.C. operation and federalization of the city’s policing could last, the president said, “We’re going to stay here for a while.”

Attorney General Pam Bondi and White House deputy chief of staff for domestic policy Stephen Miller joined Trump in the massive sedan known as “The Beast.” Bondi has been in charge of the District’s police department for 10 days, and Miller is the linchpin behind Trump’s hardline immigration and policing policies. Interior Secretary Doug Burgum joined the president in Anacostia.

Virginia’s senior senator, Democrat Mark Warner, on Thursday wrote on X that “if Trump really cared about the safety of the residents of DC, he probably would have started by placing more pressure on the Republican House to fix a tiny logistical hiccup that cost DC $1 billion — hurting local police,” adding: “Instead, DC still isn’t able to access its tax dollars.”

‘We’re going to do a job’

Trump made the stunning announcement earlier Thursday of the patrol during a call-in segment to a conservative radio program, telling host Todd Starnes, “I’m going to be going out tonight, I think, with the police and with the military, of course.

“So we’re going to do a job,” Trump added.

Trump has annoyed Democrats during two terms and three campaigns by declaring himself the nation’s top law enforcement officer. While technically true, most presidents have delegated that role and moniker to their attorneys general.

The street spectacle came after Trump on Aug. 11 used a rare appearance in the White House briefing room to announce he would use his office’s powers to take over Washington’s Metropolitan Police Department and deploy National Guard troops around the nation’s capital.

The president that day called violent crime, car thefts, homelessness and uncleanliness in the District “out of control,” adding from a lectern with the presidential seal affixed to its front: “We’re going to take our capital back.”

“We’re not going to let it happen anymore. … We’re not going to take it,” he said, contending the murder and violent crime rate in D.C. is higher than in some of the “worst places on earth,” mentioning Bogota, Colombia, and Mexico City, Mexico.

On Tuesday, Trump called into Fox News and declared he had made the district “just an incredible place in, in literally four days.”

“I have friends that say they’re going out to dinner,” he added a day after he claimed to reporters to have received phone calls from friends who live in D.C. but had not dined at a restaurant in several years.

Trump and his top aides assert that D.C.’s violent crime rate is at an all-time high. But a closer look at MPD and Justice Department numbers shows violent crimes have been falling over the last 12 months — though that means, by definition, they mostly have returned to still-high, pre-spike levels.

During his Aug. 11 news conference, Trump assessed the state of the district this way: “It’s becoming a situation of complete and total lawlessness. And we’re getting rid of the slums too. We have slums here. We’re getting rid of them. I know it’s not politically correct.

“You’ll say, ‘Oh, so terrible.’ No, we’re getting rid of the slums where they live. Caravans of masked youth rampage through city streets at all times of the day. They’re on ATVs, motorbikes. They travel pretty well,” he added. “Entire neighborhoods are now under emergency curfews.”

MPD officers have assisted U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement and other federal agents on immigration-related arrests, an issue Trump as recently as this week told reporters helped propel him to two White House terms.

Trump’s D.C. policing takeover and the subsequent sometimes heavy-handed moves by local and federal officers have outraged many congressional Democrats.

“Every day Washingtonians are confronted with new outrages from Trump’s unwanted and unjustified occupation of D.C., including arrests using excessive force that put people in unnecessary danger,” Rep. Don Beyer, D- Va., said in a Wednesday statement. “Many of these encounters have been captured on video taken by bystanders or journalists, and I cannot help but wonder what we are not seeing because it is not caught on video.”

The president has called on Congress, once it finishes its annual summer recess, to repeal the 1973 D.C. Home Rule Act and pass a “crime bill” to end practices like “no-cash bail” and provide more crime-fighting resources and flexibility.

Awkwardly, some of Trump’s parting words for the personnel, who have been making sometimes-physical arrests and having negative interactions with D.C. residents: “Have a good time, everybody.”

Rather than walking the streets, the White House called a “lid” at 6:21 p.m., meaning Trump was in for the night.

_____

Visit at rollcall.com.

Distributed by Tribune Content Agency, LLC.