Ukraine hit multiple southern Russian cities in a drone attack on Thursday, killing at least one person and wounding 16 more, just hours before President Donald Trump is <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/what-you-need-to-know-ahead-of-trump-and-putins-alaska-meeting?topStoryPosition=undefined&amp;author=Kassy+Akiva&amp;category=News&amp;elementPosition=0&amp;row=1&amp;rowHeadline=Top+Stories&amp;rowType=Top+Stories&amp;title=What+You+Need+To+Know+Ahead+Of+Trump+And+Putin%E2%80%99s+Alaska+Meeting">scheduled to meet</a> with Russian President Vladimir Putin to discuss a potential ceasefire.
One Ukrainian drone struck an apartment building in Rostov-on-Don, injuring 13 people, according to the acting governor of the region, Yury Slyusar, Reuters <a href="https://www.reuters.com/world/europe/russian-officials-say-least-16-wounded-ukrainian-drone-attacks-two-cities-2025-08-14/">reported</a>. Another drone that hit in Belgorod injured three civilians.
Ukraine also appeared to target a Russian oil refinery late Wednesday, with a drone attack causing an oil spill. The Russian Defense Ministry said that it intercepted 44 Ukrainian drones overnight Wednesday into Thursday morning, according to <a href="https://thehill.com/policy/international/5453111-ukraine-russia-drone-attacks-trump-putin-meeting/">The Hill</a>.
Ukraine&#8217;s drone attack on Russia comes after Putin&#8217;s forces made significant <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/russia-makes-sudden-advance-in-ukraine-days-before-trump-putin-summit?author=Reuters&amp;category=News&amp;elementPosition=undefined&amp;row=0&amp;rowType=Vertical+List&amp;title=Russia+Makes+Sudden+Advance+In+Ukraine+Days+Before+Trump-Putin+Summit">advances</a> in eastern Ukraine. According to Ukraine’s DeepState war map, Russian forces advanced by around six miles as they seek to take full control of the Donetsk region. Russia has also ramped up drone and missile <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/russian-airstrikes-on-prison-hospital-kill-19-in-southeastern-ukraine?author=Reuters&amp;category=News&amp;elementPosition=undefined&amp;row=0&amp;rowType=Vertical+List&amp;title=Russian+Airstrikes+On+Prison%2C+Hospital+Kill+19+In+Southeastern+Ukraine">strikes</a> on Ukrainian cities, including Kyiv, in recent weeks, killing more than a dozen people.
Trump and Putin will meet in Anchorage, Alaska, at 3:30 PM EST on Friday, The Daily Wire previously <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/what-you-need-to-know-ahead-of-trump-and-putins-alaska-meeting?topStoryPosition=undefined&amp;author=Kassy+Akiva&amp;category=News&amp;elementPosition=0&amp;row=1&amp;rowHeadline=Top+Stories&amp;rowType=Top+Stories&amp;title=What+You+Need+To+Know+Ahead+Of+Trump+And+Putin%E2%80%99s+Alaska+Meeting">reported</a>. Trump has pressured both Putin and Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky to end the bloodshed that began when Russia invaded Ukraine in February 2022. The president&#8217;s most recent harsh criticism, however, has been directed toward Putin, whom he has accused of appearing to show interest in peace talks before further inflaming tensions with major attacks on Ukraine.
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During the Trump-Putin summit, the two leaders are expected to discuss a potential land swap between Russia and Ukraine that Trump hinted at last week. Zelensky has pushed back on the idea of a land swap with Russia, saying that “Ukrainians will not gift their land to the occupier.” Trump blasted Zelensky on Monday, saying that he disagrees with the Ukrainian president “very, very severely&#8221; and that he “was a little bothered” by Zelensky’s resistance to his peace plan.
Trump told Fox Radio’s Brian Kilmeade on Thursday that he believes Putin will agree to a deal.
“He’s going to make a deal. I think he’s going to. And we’re going to find out — I’m going to know very quickly,” the president said. He added that there&#8217;s a 25% chance that his meeting with Putin goes poorly, in which case he would immediately return to Washington, D.C.
Zelensky will not be included in the talks with Putin on Friday, but Trump <a href="https://wapo.st/45gzNoP">suggested</a> that he could meet with Zelensky and Putin in Alaska in a second meeting after the summit on Friday.

Volodymyr Zelensky

Ukraine Attacks Multiple Cities In Russia One Day Before Trump-Putin Summit

Donald Trump

Global Politics

Russia

Ukraine

Ukraine-Russia War

Vladimir Putin

World

When President Donald Trump sat between the leaders of Armenia and Azerbaijan last week, few people realized the significance of the meeting and the months of negotiations that took place beforehand to get two hostile nations to come together at the White House.
Just weeks before the president and his team stepped in to maintain stability in the South Caucasus earlier this year, a full-scale invasion of Armenia&#8217;s southernmost province, Syunik, appeared imminent, according to Dr. Nerses Kopalyan, an Armenian-American political science professor at the University of Nevada, Las Vegas. Kopalyan informally advised and supported negotiations between the Trump administration and Armenia and spoke to The Daily Wire this week about the agreement that was signed last Friday.
In March, Trump administration officials were briefed on U.S. intelligence that Azerbaijan was planning a major offensive against Armenia, reigniting hostilities two years after Azerbaijan&#8217;s ethnic cleansing campaign uprooted thousands of Armenians from their ancestral homeland in Nagorno-Karabakh, Kopalyan said. The American intelligence assessment sparked immediate action from the Trump administration. Later that month, the president&#8217;s special envoy, Steve Witkoff, opened up negotiations with Azerbaijan as the White House sought to prevent another armed conflict.
&#8220;Once U.S. intelligence had that information, the Trump administration decided that they had to step in and put diplomatic pressure on Azerbaijan not to attack, and then initiate diplomacy to find a solution,&#8221; said Kopalyan, who previously <a href="https://evnreport.com/evn-security-report/pax-americana-comes-to-the-south-caucasus/">wrote</a> about the significance of Trump&#8217;s Armenia-Azerbaijan deal. &#8220;So if it were not for the Trump administration, Azerbaijan would have attacked, and we would have had severe instability in the region.&#8221;
A White House official told The Daily Wire, “We do not comment on specific intelligence, but President Trump’s administration was concerned about tensions between Armenia and Azerbaijan before intervening to deliver peace and stability in the region.”
The challenge before the Trump administration at the beginning of the talks in March and April was complicated.
Armenia and Azerbaijan have been in and out of severe conflict for the past 35 years, with Azerbaijan most recently taking full control of Nagorno-Karabakh — a large patch of land inside of Azerbaijan that was inhabited by Armenians for centuries. In 2020, conflict in Nagorno-Karabakh resulted in thousands of casualties before a ceasefire was agreed upon. Nearly three years later, Azerbaijan launched a full-scale offensive in Nagorno-Karabakh, forcing Armenians to flee the region.
For the past five years, Azerbaijan has threatened to encroach on Armenia&#8217;s sovereignty, pushing for its own trade route — called the Zangezur Corridor — that would cut through Armenia and connect Azerbaijan to its landlocked exclave, Nakhchivan. With Azerbaijan potentially setting its sights on southern Armenia and risking the breakout of another war, the Trump administration had to move fast.
The White House presented a &#8220;unique solution&#8221; to get the two enemies to come to an agreement, Kopalyan said.
&#8220;The United States comes and presents the proposal that became the Trump Route for International Peace and Prosperity (TRIPP),&#8221; Kopalyan added. &#8220;They present it as a very unique solution to a problem that should be accepted by both sides.&#8221;
Under the TRIPP proposal, Armenia and the United States would build a major trade route through Syunik that Azerbaijan could use freely to gain better access to Nakhchivan.
&#8220;The United States&#8217; presence would alleviate Armenia&#8217;s concerns. It would also mitigate Azerbaijan&#8217;s concerns, and Azerbaijan would no longer have the Zangezur Corridor premise to attack,&#8221; Kopalyan said.
Not all Armenians were pleased with the deal, with some in the diaspora arguing that Trump&#8217;s negotiations favored Azerbaijan. The biggest criticism of the deal is that it does not address Azerbaijan&#8217;s past human rights abuses against Armenians, such as the ethnic cleansing in Nagorno-Karabakh and allegations that Azerbaijan&#8217;s government is holding at least 23 Armenians — likely more — hostage in Baku.
The Armenian National Committee of America — which is affiliated with the pro-Russia political wing in Armenia called the Armenian Revolutionary Federation — blasted the Trump-negotiated deal. The group <a href="https://anca.org/press-release/anca-calls-out-white-house-for-pushing-armenia-azerbaijan-deal-without-artsakh-return-prisoner-release-or-sovereignty-safeguards/">said</a> that the deal was &#8220;rewarding [Azerbaijan&#8217;s] aggression, compromising Armenia’s sovereignty, and consolidating Azerbaijan’s genocidal ethnic cleansing of over 150,000 indigenous Armenian Christians.&#8221;
&#8220;A true and lasting peace requires justice — the right of return for displaced Armenians, the release of hostages, protection for Christian heritage sites, and the withdrawal of Azerbaijani forces from Armenia – none of which are addressed in this agreement,&#8221; the Armenian National Committee of America added in a statement.
In a phone call with The Daily Wire, Garen Jinbachian, the community coordinator for the Western Region of the Armenian National Committee of America, said that Trump&#8217;s Armenia-Azerbaijan deal &#8220;seems like a huge PR stunt to some extent.&#8221;
&#8220;Frankly, you cannot have lasting peace, you cannot have real peace if one of the parties is held at gunpoint and practically coerced to sign it,&#8221; said Jinbachian. &#8220;The whole deal is based on injustice, the lack of justice in the region. Ethnic cleansing is not justice.&#8221;
Those criticisms are missing the full context of the deal, Kopalyan argued. The deal struck last Friday between Armenian Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan and Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev was less of an all-encompassing peace agreement and more of the first major step in a long process of securing communication and stability between the two countries. Kopalyan added that the White House would likely negotiate further peace talks between Armenia and Azerbaijan for the next three years.
&#8220;This is a normalization process initiated by the United States,&#8221; Kopalyan said.
Despite the major progress made between Armenia and Azerbaijan last week, Kopalyan remains pessimistic that a long-lasting peace treaty could be made between the two nations while Aliyev remains in power.
&#8220;I don&#8217;t think Aliyev will ever sign a peace treaty because it is not in his strategic interest. It&#8217;s a very rational position by him,&#8221; Kopalyan said. &#8220;Because he enjoys so much power asymmetry and because he&#8217;s able to utilize that power disparity to exert his position in the region, if he signs a peace treaty, he&#8217;s basically giving away the last 10-15 years and the billions that he has spent to establish his position of dominance.&#8221;
&#8220;He will do normalization, he will — under American pressure — do connectivity, opening of roads and all that stuff, but unless President Trump and the United States put a gun to his head, where he realizes he has no option but to sign, I don&#8217;t see him signing a peace treaty.&#8221;

President Trump Meets With Leaders Of Armenia And Azerbaijan At The White House

How Trump’s ‘Unique Solution’ For Armenia And Azerbaijan Likely Prevented A Full-Scale War

Armenians

Foreign Policy

Trump Administration

A man was arrested and charged with felony assault after throwing a Subway sandwich at a federal agent on the streets of Washington, D.C., earlier this week. Attorney General Pam Bondi revealed on Thursday that the man worked for the Department of Justice.
A <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cWa7r4B3ihg">video</a> recorded by a bystander showed 37-year-old Sean Charles Dunn confronting federal agents who were dispatched under President Donald Trump&#8217;s order to federalize the D.C. police department and address the capital&#8217;s violent crime. In the video, Dunn shouts at the federal agents, calling them &#8220;fascists&#8221; and yelling, &#8220;F*** you!&#8221;
Dunn began to walk away with his Subway sandwich, but then returned and asked bystanders which vehicles the federal agents were using. He then crossed the street and approached a group of federal agents. He continued to berate the federal law enforcement officers before winding up and throwing his sandwich at the chest of an agent. A foot chase ensued before the DOJ employee was arrested.
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet">
The <a href="https://twitter.com/FBI?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">@FBI</a> arrested this individual last night.
He has been charged with felony assault on a federal officer. <a href="https://t.co/GY2DBr9rUP">pic.twitter.com/GY2DBr9rUP</a>
— FBI Director Kash Patel (@FBIDirectorKash) <a href="https://twitter.com/FBIDirectorKash/status/1955980832998350883?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">August 14, 2025</a></blockquote>
&nbsp;
In a <a href="https://x.com/AGPamBondi/status/1956010229348413694">post</a> on X Thursday morning, AG Bondi said that she &#8220;just learned that this defendant worked at the Department of Justice.&#8221; Bondi added that Dunn was fired from the DOJ and charged with a felony.
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&#8220;This is an example of the Deep State we have been up against for seven months as we work to refocus DOJ,&#8221; Bondi added. &#8220;You will NOT work in this administration while disrespecting our government and law enforcement.&#8221;
The criminal complaint against Dunn says that he admitted to throwing the sandwich at the officer, the New York Post <a href="https://nypost.com/2025/08/13/us-news/dc-man-sean-charles-dunn-charged-with-felony-assault-after-hitting-federal-agent-with-subway-sandwich/?utm_source=twitter&amp;utm_medium=social&amp;utm_campaign=nypost">reported</a>.  U.S. Attorney for the District of Columbia Jeanine Pirro said that the suspect thought his action &#8220;was funny.&#8221;
&#8220;Well, he doesn&#8217;t think it&#8217;s funny today because we charged him with a felony: assault on a police officer,&#8221; Pirro added. &#8220;And we&#8217;re going to back the police to the hilt, so there, stick your Subway sandwich somewhere else.&#8221;
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet">
Assault a law enforcement officer, and you’ll be prosecuted.
This guy thought it was funny—well, he doesn’t think it’s funny today, because we charged him with a felony. <a href="https://t.co/O0NVAFDZrU">pic.twitter.com/O0NVAFDZrU</a>
— Jeanine Pirro (@JudgeJeanine) <a href="https://twitter.com/JudgeJeanine/status/1955704405161808286?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">August 13, 2025</a></blockquote>
Trump&#8217;s move to federalize the Metropolitan Police Department and send in federal agents and the National Guard to address violent crime has met pushback from local and Congressional Democrats. Some D.C. residents have also taken to the streets to protest Trump&#8217;s law and order directive. Some D.C. residents gathered on city streets Wednesday night, shouting at federal agents with messages such as, “Go home, fascists” and “Get off our streets,&#8221; the Associated Press <a href="https://apnews.com/article/washington-police-takeover-trump-crime-national-guard-6afb751c7691e8f184057d8a16ddbbe7">reported</a>.
Federal agents, in collaboration with the D.C. police department, have made around 150 arrests since Trump ordered them to tackle violent crime in the nation&#8217;s capital.

Federal agents/Subway

DOJ Employee Faces Felony After Chucking Sandwich At Federal Agent To Protest Trump’s D.C. Takeover

Crime

Pam Bondi

Police

Washington D.C.

White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt provided an update on Thursday morning regarding President Donald Trump&#8217;s federal operation to combat violent crime in Washington, D.C., saying that 45 more people were arrested on Wednesday night.
In addition to the 45 arrests made by federal authorities in collaboration with D.C. police, federal agents also detained 29 suspected illegal immigrants, Leavitt said. The charges against those arrested overnight on Wednesday included second- and first-degree assault and distribution of illegal drugs and narcotics. Authorities also seized three illegal firearms while making some of those arrests.
&#8220;In addition to that, there were 29 illegal aliens who were removed off of Washington, D.C., streets last night, many of whom had final orders of removal,&#8221; the White House press secretary told &#8220;Fox &amp; Friends.&#8221; &#8220;So these results are happening night after night because of the efforts of this federal task force that [is] working alongside the Metropolitan Police Department, who agree with this effort.&#8221;
&#8220;While Democrats want to rant and rave and coddle criminals, President Trump wants to put them behind bars, and that&#8217;s what this task force is focused on doing for the next 28 days,&#8221; Leavitt added.
Leavitt also argued that the &#8220;huge law enforcement presence&#8221; in the streets of the nation&#8217;s capital is deterring more violent crime.
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-media-max-width="560">
.<a href="https://twitter.com/PressSec?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">@PressSec</a> on Making D.C. Safe Again: &#8220;Overnight, there were 45 criminal arrests made&#8230; In addition to that, there were 29 illegal aliens who were removed&#8230; If the Democrats had their way, there would be hundreds more criminals roaming free.&#8221; <a href="https://t.co/rT8FREVSdg">pic.twitter.com/rT8FREVSdg</a>
— Rapid Response 47 (@RapidResponse47) <a href="https://twitter.com/RapidResponse47/status/1955977575651492304?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">August 14, 2025</a></blockquote>
&nbsp;
Leavitt&#8217;s latest update adds to the <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/d-c-will-be-safe-again-feds-kick-off-trumps-violent-crime-crackdown-with-over-100-arrests?author=Zach+Jewell&amp;category=News&amp;elementPosition=undefined&amp;row=0&amp;rowType=Vertical+List&amp;title=D.C.+%E2%80%98WILL+Be+Safe+Again%E2%80%99%3A%C2%A0Feds+Kick+Off+Trump%E2%80%99s+Violent+Crime+Crackdown+With+Over+100+Arrests">total arrest</a> number revealed on Wednesday, when Fox News reported that federal authorities made over 100 arrests between August 7-12. Following Trump&#8217;s order to federalize D.C. police, agents with the FBI, Drug Enforcement Administration, U.S. Capitol Police, and the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms, and Explosives descended upon the nation’s capital. Trump also deployed around 800 National Guard troops to assist with federal efforts to crack down on crime in D.C.
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FBI Director Kash Patel said on Tuesday that his agents assisted in the arrest of at least 10 people, including one arrest &#8220;on a search warrant for a prior murder charge.&#8221; Democratic Congressional and city leaders continue to push back on Trump&#8217;s plan to address D.C.&#8217;s violent crime. D.C. Mayor Muriel Bowser argues that crime in the capital &#8220;is at its lowest level in 30 years.&#8221;
&#8220;We had an unacceptable spike in 2023, so we changed our laws and strategies. Now, crime levels are not only down from 2023, but from before the pandemic,&#8221; Bowser <a href="https://x.com/MayorBowser/status/1955408828964671749">said</a> earlier this week. &#8220;Our tactics are working, and we aren’t taking our foot off the gas.&#8221;
The president disagreed, and he took to Truth Social on Wednesday evening to cast doubt on the city&#8217;s official crime data.
&#8220;The Violent Crime Rate in D.C. has worsened, and the Murder Rate has essentially DOUBLED in just over a decade — But these are only the &#8216;official&#8217; statistics released by corrupt City Officials. The REAL numbers are many times worse,&#8221; Trump <a href="https://truthsocial.com/@realDonaldTrump/posts/115024069066734919">wrote</a>. &#8220;In fact, a Precinct Commander was just suspended for allegedly manipulating the Violent Crime Statistics, and the D.C. Police Union, likewise, says the real numbers are much higher.&#8221;
The president notched another major victory on Thursday when Washington, D.C., Police Chief Pamela A. Smith announced that the city would break from its &#8220;sanctuary city&#8221; policies, The Daily Wire previously <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/trump-effect-d-c-police-break-from-sanctuary-city-policies-will-cooperate-with-ice?topStoryPosition=undefined&amp;author=Hank+Berrien&amp;category=News&amp;elementPosition=1&amp;row=1&amp;rowHeadline=Top+Stories&amp;rowType=Top+Stories&amp;title=Trump+Effect%3A+D.C.+Police+Break+From+Sanctuary+City+Policies%2C+Will+Cooperate+With+ICE">reported</a>.
“Effective immediately, members may assist federal immigration enforcement agencies with the following: Sharing information about persons not in MPD custody (e.g., during traffic stops). Providing transportation for federal immigration agency employees and detained subjects,” a press release signed by Chief Smith stated.

Federal agents in Washington, D.C.

D.C. Crime Crackdown Update: Authorities Arrest Dozens More, Including Suspected Illegal Immigrants

Federal Government

Karoline Leavitt

Violent Crime

U.S. air and naval forces are set to deploy to the Southern Caribbean Sea following President Donald Trump&#8217;s <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/trump-greenlights-military-force-to-take-down-latin-american-drug-cartels">directive</a> for the Pentagon to use the military for operations against Latin American drug cartels, Reuters <a href="https://www.reuters.com/world/us-military-deploying-forces-southern-caribbean-against-drug-groups-2025-08-14/">reported</a> on Thursday.
Sources briefed on the move told Reuters that after Trump&#8217;s order, the Defense Department has begun deploying U.S. troops to address &#8220;threats to U.S. national security from specially designated narco-terrorist organizations in the region.&#8221; Last week, Trump quietly signed an order to deploy U.S. troops to conduct anti-cartel operations in foreign countries, <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2025/08/08/us/trump-military-drug-cartels.html?smtyp=cur&amp;smid=tw-nytimesworld">according</a> to The New York Times.
It remains unknown which specific cartels the president is targeting in his directive. After Trump was sworn into office, the United States designated seven drug cartels and two international criminal gangs as foreign terrorist organizations. Most of those cartels primarily operate in Mexico, but the reported deployment of troops to the South Caribbean Sea suggests that the operation will focus more on Central and South America.
Venezuela, whose northern coastline sits on the South Caribbean Sea, has been a recent subject of the Trump administration&#8217;s scrutiny. Shortly after the president took office, the State Department designated the Venezuelan international criminal gang, Tren de Aragua (TdA), as a foreign terrorist organization, and most recently added the Venezuelan Cartel de los Soles to its terrorist organization list.
Trump has also ramped up pressure on Venezuelan dictator Nicolás Maduro, <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/trump-hikes-bounty-on-venezuelas-maduro-to-50m">raising</a> the bounty on him to $50 million and pointing to his ties to transnational gangs and drug cartels. Attorney General Pam Bondi also accused Maduro of using the powerful Mexican drug cartel, Sinaloa, &#8220;to bring deadly drugs and violence into our country.&#8221;
&#8220;To date, the DEA has seized 30 tons of cocaine linked to Maduro and his associates with nearly seven tons linked to Maduro himself,” Bondi said earlier this month.
After Trump greenlit military operations against drug cartels, Mexican President Claudia Sheinbaum <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/mexican-president-says-u-s-military-will-not-fight-drug-cartels-on-its-soil">said</a> that U.S. troops would not be entering her country to fight cartels. Sheinbaum said last week that U.S. officials gave her a heads-up that Trump&#8217;s directive &#8220;was coming,&#8221; adding that an American troop deployment to Mexico was &#8220;absolutely ruled out.&#8221;
&#8220;It is not part of any agreement, far from it. When it has been brought up, we have always said no,&#8221; Sheinbaum said.
Trump has already been using the military along the U.S.-Mexico border to help clamp down on illegal immigration and drug trafficking. The U.S. military has also increased its aerial surveillance of Mexican drug cartels, collecting intelligence on the traffickers responsible for shipping deadly drugs, such as fentanyl, into the United States.

U.S. Navy Helicopter

U.S. Deploys Forces To Take On Latin American Drug Cartels In The Southern Caribbean

U.S. Deploys Forces To Southern Caribbean To Take On Latin American Drug Cartels

Drug Cartels

Mexico

U.S. Air Force

U.S. Military

U.S. Navy

Venezuela

President Donald Trump said on Wednesday that he would ask Congress to extend the 30-day limit on his takeover of D.C. police as federal agents ramp up arrests in the nation&#8217;s capital.
Speaking to reporters during a press conference at the Kennedy Center, Trump was asked if he would seek to keep National Guard troops and federal agents in D.C. past the initial 30-day limit under the District of Columbia Home Rule Act. To extend his federalization of the D.C. police, Congress would need to issue a joint resolution approving of that move.
&#8220;We expect to be before Congress very quickly,&#8221; Trump said. &#8220;And again, we think the Democrats will not do anything to stop crime, but we think the Republicans will do it almost unanimously.&#8221;
The president added that Congress will need to pass a crime bill that will &#8220;pertain initially to D.C.,&#8221; adding that he would ask for &#8220;long-term extensions&#8221; of his federalization of the police force. He argued that while the federal government would work quickly to address violent crime in D.C., 30 days wasn&#8217;t long enough.
&#8220;We&#8217;re going to do this very quickly, but we&#8217;re going to want extensions,&#8221; Trump said. &#8220;I don&#8217;t want to call a national emergency. If I have to, I will.&#8221;
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-media-max-width="560">
REPORTER: Your federalization of the police has a 30 day limit unless Congress acts to extend it&#8230;<a href="https://twitter.com/POTUS?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">@POTUS</a>: &#8220;We expect to be before Congress very quickly&#8230; We&#8217;re going to need a crime bill&#8230; We&#8217;re going to be asking for extensions on that—long-term extensions.&#8221; <a href="https://t.co/SRuIWBGTHq">pic.twitter.com/SRuIWBGTHq</a>
— Rapid Response 47 (@RapidResponse47) <a href="https://twitter.com/RapidResponse47/status/1955663185119445155?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">August 13, 2025</a></blockquote>
&nbsp;
Republicans would likely approve Trump&#8217;s request to extend the 30-day limit. Both Senate Majority Leader John Thune (R-SD) and House Speaker Mike Johnson (R-LA) have voiced support for Trump&#8217;s D.C. takeover, The Daily Wire previously <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/why-congress-holds-the-key-to-extending-trumps-d-c-police-takeover?author=Daniel+Chaitin&amp;category=News&amp;elementPosition=1&amp;row=0&amp;rowType=Vertical+List&amp;title=Why+Congress+Holds+The+Key+To+Extending+Trump%E2%80%99s+D.C.+Police+Takeover">reported</a>.
&#8220;I&#8217;m grateful for [Trump&#8217;s] leadership and for this administration&#8217;s commitment to protecting communities large and small across America. Washington, D.C., should be a place where people can safely live, visit, work, and raise a family, and today&#8217;s announcement is a positive step in that direction,&#8221; said Thune.
Johnson added, &#8220;Every American should be able to visit and enjoy Washington, D.C. without fear. House Republicans support this effort to CLEAN UP Washington, END the crime wave, and RESTORE the beauty of the greatest capital in the world.&#8221;
Democrats are united in their opposition to Trump&#8217;s federalization of D.C. law enforcement, with Democratic House Leader Hakeem Jeffries (D-NY) calling the president&#8217;s move an &#8220;unjustified power grab&#8221; and claiming that it will put people &#8220;in danger.&#8221;
&#8220;President Trump&#8217;s plan to federalize Washington, D.C.&#8217;s local police department and unleash the National Guard on the city&#8217;s youth and homeless population has no basis in law and will put the safety of the people of our Nation&#8217;s capital in danger,&#8221; Jeffries <a href="https://democraticleader.house.gov/media/press-releases/leader-jeffries-statement-donald-trumps-takeover-dc-police">said</a> in a press release.
Since last week, federal agents in D.C. have <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/d-c-will-be-safe-again-feds-kick-off-trumps-violent-crime-crackdown-with-over-100-arrests?topStoryPosition=undefined&amp;author=Zach+Jewell&amp;category=News&amp;elementPosition=1&amp;row=1&amp;rowHeadline=Top+Stories&amp;rowType=Top+Stories&amp;title=D.C.+%E2%80%98WILL+Be+Safe+Again%E2%80%99%3A%C2%A0Feds+Kick+Off+Trump%E2%80%99s+Violent+Crime+Crackdown+With+Over+100+Arrests">arrested</a> over 100 people, including arrests on homicide, firearms, and drug charges, according to Fox News.

Trump Says He’ll Push For ‘Long-Term Extensions’ Of D.C. Federal Takeover

Congress

Republicans

Federal authorities have arrested over 100 people in Washington, D.C., since last Thursday as President Donald Trump sends in the National Guard and federalizes D.C. police to crack down on violent crime in the nation&#8217;s capital.
Of the 103 people arrested by the feds since last week, 43 were detained on Tuesday, Fox News <a href="https://www.foxnews.com/politics/scoop-trumps-new-dc-crime-crackdown-yields-more-than-100-arrests">reported</a>, citing a White House official. Along with hundreds of National Guard troops, agents with the FBI, Drug Enforcement Administration, U.S. Capitol Police, and the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms, and Explosives have also descended upon the nation&#8217;s capital to help enforce Trump&#8217;s D.C. &#8220;Liberation Day&#8221; operation.
&#8220;President Trump&#8217;s bold leadership is quickly making our nation&#8217;s capital safer,&#8221; White House spokeswoman Taylor Rogers told Fox News. &#8220;In less than one week, over 100 violent criminals have already been arrested and taken off of the streets in Washington, D.C. President Trump is delivering on his campaign promise to clean up this city and restore American Greatness to our cherished capital.&#8221;
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FBI Director Kash Patel <a href="https://x.com/FBIDirectorKash/status/1955396650005823806">said</a> on Tuesday that the bureau was involved in 10 arrests with law enforcement partners in &#8220;the first big push&#8221; of Trump&#8217;s violent crime crackdown. The FBI arrests included one &#8220;on a search warrant for a prior murder charge,&#8221; multiple arrests for unlawful possession of firearms, multiple arrests of suspects with outstanding warrants for DUI, and an arrest for violating a restraining order, according to Patel.
&#8220;These are just a few examples — we are just getting started. Federal partners joined local police and arrested 23 in total. When you let good cops be cops they can clean up our streets and do it fast,&#8221; the FBI director added. &#8220;More to come. Your nation&#8217;s Capital WILL be safe again.&#8221;
Five armored personnel carriers were seen parked near the Washington Monument on Tuesday, CNN <a href="https://www.cnn.com/politics/live-news/trump-presidency-news-dc-police-putin-08-12-25#cme99hgif00053b6s99b3sz5u">reported</a>. A White House official said that federal agents and the Metropolitan Police Department &#8220;will continue focusing on high traffic areas and other known hotspots.&#8221;
Just hours after Trump announced the crackdown on violent crime, a 33-year-old man was <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/crime-ridden-d-c-records-100th-homicide-of-the-year-hours-after-trump-federalizes-police?author=Zach+Jewell&amp;category=News&amp;elementPosition=undefined&amp;row=0&amp;rowType=Vertical+List&amp;title=Crime-Ridden+D.C.+Records+100th+Homicide+Of+The+Year+Hours+After+Trump+Federalizes+Police">shot and killed</a> in D.C.&#8217;s Logan Circle, which is just one mile from the White House and is described as one of D.C.&#8217;s more popular neighborhoods. The fatal shooting marked D.C.&#8217;s 100th homicide of 2025.
White House Press Secretary <a href="https://x.com/FoxNews/status/1955320143090708745">said</a> during a press briefing on Tuesday that around 850 officers and agents &#8220;were surged across the city&#8221; on Monday night, and made 23 arrests, which included arrests on homicide, firearms, and drug charges. Trump announced that he was federalizing D.C. police and deploying the National Guard on Monday morning, but federal agents were already out on the D.C. streets making arrests late last week.
The president is using section 740 of the District of Columbia Home Rule Act to declare an emergency and take control of the Metropolitan Police Department for up to 30 days. If Trump wants to extend his control of D.C. police beyond 30 days, Congress would need to step in and pass a joint resolution that authorizes an extension, The Daily Wire previously <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/why-congress-holds-the-key-to-extending-trumps-d-c-police-takeover?author=Daniel+Chaitin&amp;category=News&amp;elementPosition=1&amp;row=0&amp;rowType=Vertical+List&amp;title=Why+Congress+Holds+The+Key+To+Extending+Trump%E2%80%99s+D.C.+Police+Takeover">reported</a>. The GOP-controlled House and Senate would likely grant Trump&#8217;s request to maintain control over the capital&#8217;s law enforcement.

Federal agents in D.C.

D.C. ‘WILL Be Safe Again’: Feds Kick Off Trump’s Violent Crime Crackdown With Over 100 Arrests

The Capital 'WILL Be Safe Again': Feds Arrest Over 100 In D.C. Amid Trump's Violent Crime Crackdown

Drug Enforcement Agency

Texas Republican Attorney General Ken Paxton said on Tuesday that he is seeking the arrest of Democrat Robert Francis &#8220;Beto&#8221; O&#8217;Rourke over O&#8217;Rourke&#8217;s alleged violation of a court order requiring him to stop fundraising for the AWOL Texas Democrats.
Paxton <a href="https://x.com/KenPaxtonTX/status/1955295153079586937">accused</a> O&#8217;Rourke of &#8220;blatantly&#8221; violating a temporary restraining order &#8220;by continuing to fundraise and pay for the personal expenses of runaway Democrat legislators.&#8221; Last week, Tarrant County, Texas, District Court Judge Megan Fahey <a href="https://www.nbcnews.com/politics/2026-election/beto-orourke-blocked-financially-supporting-texas-democrats-fled-state-rcna224002">barred</a> O&#8217;Rourke and his political group, Powered by People, from funding the group of 50 Democrats who fled the state to stop a vote on a GOP-backed Congressional map.
Paxton alleges that O&#8217;Rourke violated the restraining order immediately after it was issued by telling a crowd of supporters that he would continue fundraising for the runaway Democrats. O&#8217;Rourke also told the crowd that Democrats should “f*** the rules” and “win whatever it takes,&#8221; calling on Democrat-led states to redraw Congressional maps to take seats away from Republicans, The Daily Wire previously <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/f-the-rules-beto-goes-off-the-rails-says-dems-will-win-whatever-it-takes">reported</a>.
&#8220;There are no refs in this game, f*** the rules, we are going to win whatever it takes. We’re going to take this to him in every way that we can,&#8221; O&#8217;Rourke said.
In a press release, Paxton said that O&#8217;Rourke &#8220;is wrong on both counts.&#8221;
&#8220;There is a referee—the Honorable Megan Fahey—and there are rules—namely, that a person violating a temporary restraining order can be fined up to $500 and jailed for up to six months,&#8221; the Texas attorney general added. &#8220;Given Robert Francis&#8217;s vulgar disdain for the rule of law and immense personal wealth, imprisonment is absolutely necessary to persuade him to obey the lawful restraining order issued by the Tarrant County court.&#8221;
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet">
BREAKING: I&#8217;m taking action to hold Robert Francis O&#8217;Rourke in contempt for violating a court order and scamming Texans.
Beto is about to find out that running your mouth and ignoring the rule of law has consequences in Texas.
It&#8217;s time to lock him up. <a href="https://t.co/JZO4cbBkt1">pic.twitter.com/JZO4cbBkt1</a>
— Attorney General Ken Paxton (@KenPaxtonTX) <a href="https://twitter.com/KenPaxtonTX/status/1955295153079586937?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">August 12, 2025</a></blockquote>
&#8220;Beto told me to &#8216;come and take,&#8217; so I did and beat him in court. Now, he still thinks he&#8217;s above the law, so I&#8217;m working to put him behind bars,&#8221; Paxton continued.
O&#8217;Rourke shot back at Paxton in a post on X, accusing the attorney general of &#8220;lying about me to try to silence us.&#8221;
&#8220;We alerted the Court that the AG&#8217;s office blatantly lied in its filing. We’re seeking maximum sanctions in response to his abuse of office,&#8221; O&#8217;Rourke added. &#8220;Taking the fight directly to this corrupt, lying thug.&#8221;
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet">
He&#8217;s lying about me to try to silence us.
Here’s the full clip. I mean every word.
We alerted the Court that the AG&#8217;s office blatantly lied in its filing. We’re seeking maximum sanctions in response to his abuse of office.
Taking the fight directly to this corrupt, lying thug. <a href="https://t.co/JAfKR3xyH3">https://t.co/JAfKR3xyH3</a> <a href="https://t.co/uQFCG3Jmsg">pic.twitter.com/uQFCG3Jmsg</a>
— Beto O&#8217;Rourke (@BetoORourke) <a href="https://twitter.com/BetoORourke/status/1955349238956585078?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">August 12, 2025</a></blockquote>
Paxton launched an <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/beto-orourke-led-group-under-investigation-over-potential-bribes-to-help-runaway-texas-dems">investigation</a> into O&#8217;Rourke&#8217;s group last week after it was reported that Powered by People was bankrolling the Texas Democrats who shirked their responsibilities in the state House and fled to Illinois to block a vote on the new Congressional map. The group of Democrats faces a daily $500 fine, along with living expenses in Illinois.
Powered by People <a href="https://poweredxpeople.org/what-we-do/">focuses</a> on organizing volunteers to help Democrats win elections in “competitive Texas battleground districts.” The leftist group says it is also “focused on creating long-term changes to the Texas electorate that will outlast any one candidate or campaign cycle.”
The Democratic legislators <a href="https://abc7chicago.com/post/texas-democrats-illinois-vow-stay-special-session-ends-despite-st-charles-bomb-threat-greg-abbotts-arrests/17504587/">remain</a> out of the state this week, defying last Friday&#8217;s deadline that Speaker of the Texas House Dustin Burrows put in place for their return. The Democrats vowed to stay out of Texas past the 30-day special session, but Texas Republican Governor Greg Abbott <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/abbott-vows-to-hold-special-sessions-in-texas-for-years-until-delinquent-dems-return">said</a> on Sunday that he would continue to call special sessions.
“I’m authorized to call a special session every 30 days. It lasts 30 days. And as soon as this one is over, I’m gonna call another one, then another one, then another one, then another one,” the governor said.
“If they show back up in the state of Texas, they will be arrested and taken to the capitol. If they want to evade that arrest, they’re gonna have to stay outside of the state of Texas for literally years,” he added. “They might as well just start voting in California or voting in Illinois, wherever they may be.”

Ken Paxton, Beto O’Rourke

Ken Paxton Seeks To Put Democrat Beto O’Rourke ‘Behind Bars’ Over Fundraising For AWOL Dems

Beto O'Rourke

Courts

Democrats

Greg Abbott

Jail

Ken Paxton

Politics

Texas

Washington, D.C., police recorded the 100th homicide of 2025 in the nation&#8217;s capital Monday evening, just hours after President Donald Trump announced that the federal government would <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/were-gonna-take-our-capital-back-heres-everything-trump-is-going-to-do-to-clean-up-d-c">take control</a> of law enforcement to crack down on violent crime in D.C.
Tymark Wells, 33, was shot multiple times in D.C.&#8217;s Logan Circle neighborhood just before 7:00 p.m., Fox 5 <a href="https://www.fox5dc.com/news/man-shot-killed-dc-just-hours-after-trump-federalizes-metropolitan-police-department">reported</a>. The victim was taken to the hospital after police arrived on the scene and was later pronounced dead. Police are searching for a man wearing a black shirt and carrying a rifle, according to <a href="https://www.nbcwashington.com/news/local/man-killed-in-shooting-in-northwest-dc/3973874/">NBC 4 Washington</a>.
Logan Circle is just one mile from the White House and is described as one of D.C.&#8217;s more popular neighborhoods, attracting young crowds to its restaurants and bars. After the shooting, the Secret Service closed the Ellipse park near the White House, along with the north and south fence lines around the White House.
The D.C. Police Union, which <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/immediate-action-is-necessary-d-c-police-union-backs-trumps-capital-takeover">backed</a> Trump&#8217;s decision to federalize the police department, said in a statement, &#8220;Last night, DC suffered the grave milestone of its 100th homicide for 2025. Let’s hope this federal intervention leads to real change to the laws in DC that allow this to happen year after year.&#8221;
The fatal shooting is yet another example of the violent crime plaguing the nation&#8217;s capital that President Trump has vowed to root out. The homicide rate in D.C. in 2024 reached 27.3 per 100,000 residents, giving the U.S. capital the fourth-highest homicide rate of any city in the country. So far in 2025, D.C. authorities have also <a href="https://mpdc.dc.gov/dailycrime">reported</a> over 530 assaults with a dangerous weapon, nearly 900 robberies, and nearly 3,000 motor vehicle thefts. While the city has reported lower violent crime levels since record highs from 2020 to 2023, violent crime remains much higher in D.C. than it did 10-15 years ago.
D.C.&#8217;s crime data has also been questioned after a Metropolitan Police Department commander was suspended and placed under investigation for allegedly changing crime statistics. That investigation was announced shortly after the commander filed an equal employment opportunity complaint against an assistant chief, and after the police union accused the Metropolitan Police Department of falsifying crime stats to make it appear as if the city had seen a drop in violent crime, NBC 4 Washington <a href="https://www.nbcwashington.com/news/local/dc-police-commander-suspended-crime-statistics/3959566/">reported</a>.
Still, Democratic city leaders argue that they are doing their job to address violent crime in D.C. On Monday, D.C. Mayor Muriel Bowser <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/unsettling-and-unprecedented-d-c-mayor-slams-trumps-takeover-says-crime-is-dropping?author=Zach+Jewell&amp;category=undefined&amp;elementPosition=0&amp;row=3&amp;rowHeadline=Latest+News&amp;rowType=Vertical+Carousel&amp;title=%E2%80%98Unsettling+And+Unprecedented%3A+D.C.+Mayor+Slams+Trump%E2%80%99s+Takeover%2C+Says+Crime+Is+Dropping">said</a> that Trump&#8217;s &#8220;view of D.C. is shaped by his COVID-era experience during his first term,” when the city was experiencing a record-breaking crime wave.
“And it is true that those were challenging times related to some issues. It is also true that we experienced a crime spike post-COVID, but we worked quickly to put laws in place and tactics that got violent offenders off our streets and gave our police officers more tools,&#8221; Bowser said, adding, &#8220;We have been able to reverse that 2023 crime spike.&#8221;
Neither Trump nor the D.C. Police Union, which represents over 3,000 officers with the Metropolitan Police Department, agrees that Democratic leaders are properly enforcing the law and protecting Americans.
The D.C. Police Union <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/immediate-action-is-necessary-d-c-police-union-backs-trumps-capital-takeover?topStoryPosition=undefined&amp;author=Zach+Jewell&amp;category=News&amp;elementPosition=0&amp;row=1&amp;rowHeadline=Top+Stories&amp;rowType=Top+Stories&amp;title=%E2%80%98Immediate+Action+Is+Necessary%E2%80%99%3A+D.C.+Police+Union+Backs+Trump%E2%80%99s+Capital+Takeover">said</a> in a statement on Monday that it &#8220;acknowledges and supports the President’s announcement this morning to assume temporary control of the MPD in response to the escalating crime crisis in Washington, DC.&#8221;
“The Union agrees that crime is spiraling out of control, and immediate action is necessary to restore public safety,&#8221; the police union added.

D.C. Metropolitan Police

Crime-Ridden D.C. Records 100th Homicide Of The Year Hours After Trump Federalizes Police

Homicide

Shooting

To no one&#8217;s surprise, besides the &#8220;experts&#8221; who get paid for their predictions, the consumer price index increased just 0.2% month-over-month in July and remained at a steady year-over-year rate of 2.7%.
The consumer price index (CPI), which is a widely viewed measure of inflation, once again showed a lower year-over-year increase than what economists predicted as more of President Donald Trump&#8217;s tariffs go into effect, CNBC <a href="https://www.cnbc.com/2025/08/12/cpi-inflation-report-july-2025.html">reported</a>. The economic report published Tuesday by the Bureau of Labor Statistics marked the second-straight month showing an annual inflation rate of 2.7%.
With another solid inflation report under his belt, Trump is again putting pressure on the Federal Reserve to lower interest rates at its next meeting, which is scheduled for September 16-17. In a Truth Social <a href="https://truthsocial.com/@realDonaldTrump/posts/115016089386029482">post</a> on Tuesday morning, Trump said that &#8220;Jerome &#8216;Too Late&#8217; Powell must NOW lower the rate.&#8221;
&#8220;The damage he has done by always being Too Late is incalculable. Fortunately, the economy is sooo good that we’ve blown through Powell and the complacent Board,&#8221; Trump added.
Core CPI, which excludes food and energy prices, rose 0.3% for the month and 3.1% for the year. The monthly increase was in line with expectations, while the annual core CPI rise was slightly above what economists predicted, according to CNBC. Most of the CPI increase was driven by a rise in shelter prices, the BLS reported. Energy prices, meanwhile, dropped 1.1% and food prices remained steady. Prices for used cars and trucks jumped 0.5% while transportation and medical care services also saw a rise of 0.8%.
The CPI report showed that Trump&#8217;s tariffs have had little to no effect on prices. Household furnishings and supplies showed a slight increase of 0.7%, but other products that are largely imported, including clothing and canned fruits and vegetables, remained mostly flat.
Former White House economist Jared Bernstein, who worked under former President Joe Biden, even admitted that tariffs are not having a major effect on inflation &#8220;at this point.&#8221;
“The tariffs are in the numbers, but they’re certainly not jumping out hair on fire at this point,” Bernstein told CNBC.
CNN was also <a href="https://x.com/RapidResponse47/status/1955257297514451012">surprised</a> by the low inflation numbers reported on Tuesday.
&#8220;Look at that food. This is where people spend their money, right? &#8230; Food [is] flat, 0%, and actually down at the grocery store by 0.1%.&#8221;
Stocks <a href="https://www.cnbc.com/2025/08/11/stock-market-today-live-updates-.html">rose</a> Tuesday morning following the lighter-than-expected inflation report, with the Dow Jones Industrial Average and the S&amp;P 500 jumping 0.6%. The Nasdaq Composite also rose 0.8% on the good economic news.
Trump&#8217;s tariffs on over 90 countries finally went into effect last week after he extended the deadline and struck numerous trade deals. Some of the president&#8217;s highest tariff rates include 50% tariffs on <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/trump-doubles-tariff-on-india-for-fueling-russian-war-machine">India</a> and <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/extraordinary-threat-trump-unleashes-on-brazil-with-massive-tariff-sanctions-on-extremist-judge">Brazil</a>, while other tariff <a href="https://www.whitehouse.gov/presidential-actions/2025/07/further-modifying-the-reciprocal-tariff-rates/">rates</a> range from 15% to 40%. On Monday, the president <a href="https://www.cnbc.com/2025/08/11/trump-china-tariffs-deadline-extended.html">extended</a> the tariff deadline for China for an additional 90 days as his trade officials seek to work out a deal with the communist country.

‘Experts’ Wrong Again: Inflation Remains Steady, Comes In Below Expectations

Economy

Inflation

Tariffs

The police union that represents over 3,000 officers with D.C.&#8217;s Metropolitan Police Department came out in support of President Donald Trump&#8217;s decision to take federal control of law enforcement in the nation&#8217;s capital.
The D.C. Police Union said in a statement on Monday that it agrees with President Trump &#8220;that crime is spiraling out of control, and immediate action is necessary to restore public safety,&#8221; according to <a href="https://www.fox5dc.com/news/dc-leaders-police-union-react-trumps-federal-takeover-national-guard-deployment">Fox 5</a>. The union&#8217;s positive statement toward Trump was released as Democratic D.C. leaders criticized the administration&#8217;s move to take control of the police department.
&#8220;The DC Police Union, representing over 3,000 officers of the Metropolitan Police Department (MPD), today acknowledges and supports the President&#8217;s announcement this morning to assume temporary control of the MPD in response to the escalating crime crisis in Washington, DC,&#8221; the union said. &#8220;The Union agrees that crime is spiraling out of control, and immediate action is necessary to restore public safety. However, we emphasize that federal intervention must be a temporary measure, with the ultimate goal of empowering a fully staffed and supported MPD to protect our city effectively.&#8221;
Trump announced &#8220;Liberation Day in D.C.&#8221; on Monday morning, vowing to &#8220;rescue our nation&#8217;s capital from crime, bloodshed, bedlam, and squalor, and worse.&#8221; The president&#8217;s move means that the Metropolitan Police Department will fall under the control of the Department of Justice, and DEA Administrator Terry Cole will lead the D.C. police department, The Daily Wire previously <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/were-gonna-take-our-capital-back-heres-everything-trump-is-going-to-do-to-clean-up-d-c?author=Leif+Le+Mahieu&amp;category=undefined&amp;elementPosition=6&amp;row=3&amp;rowHeadline=Latest+News&amp;rowType=Vertical+Carousel&amp;title=%E2%80%98We%E2%80%99re+Gonna+Take+Our+Capital+Back%E2%80%99%3A+Here%E2%80%99s+Everything+Trump+Is+Going+To+Do+To+Clean+Up+D.C.">reported</a>.
Trump is also sending 800 National Guard troops to help patrol the streets of D.C. in a major effort to crack down on violent crime.
Democrats in D.C., including Mayor Muriel Bowser, <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/unsettling-and-unprecedented-d-c-mayor-slams-trumps-takeover-says-crime-is-dropping?author=Zach+Jewell&amp;category=undefined&amp;elementPosition=0&amp;row=3&amp;rowHeadline=Latest+News&amp;rowType=Vertical+Carousel&amp;title=%E2%80%98Unsettling+And+Unprecedented%3A+D.C.+Mayor+Slams+Trump%E2%80%99s+Takeover%2C+Says+Crime+Is+Dropping">blasted</a> the president&#8217;s move as &#8220;unsettling and unprecedented.&#8221;
&#8220;While this action today is unsettling and unprecedented, I can&#8217;t say that given some of the rhetoric of the past that we&#8217;re totally surprised,&#8221; Bowser said.
The Democrat-controlled D.C. city council released a statement, calling Trump&#8217;s action &#8220;a manufactured intrusion on local authority.&#8221;
&#8220;Violent crime in the District is at the lowest rates we&#8217;ve seen in 30 years. Federalizing the Metropolitan Police Department is unwarranted because there is no Federal emergency,&#8221; the city council added. &#8220;Further, the National Guard has no public safety training or knowledge of local laws. The Guard&#8217;s role does not include investigating or solving crimes in the District. Calling out the National Guard is an unnecessary deployment with no real mission.&#8221;
Bowser acknowledged that Section 740 of the District of Columbia Home Rule Act allows Trump to federalize local law enforcement in D.C. and vowed to coordinate with the federal government.
The White House argues that federalizing the Metropolitan Police Department is necessary because local leaders have failed to crack down on violent crime, <a href="https://x.com/RapidResponse47/status/1954937260324934044">highlighting</a> statistics that show D.C. has a higher murder rate than places like Havana, Cuba, and Islamabad, Pakistan. The Trump administration also pointed to a report alleging that police officials have &#8220;cooked the books&#8221; on crime stats to show the public lower violent crime numbers than what should be reported.
&#8220;In 2024, Washington, D.C. saw a homicide rate of 27.3 per 100,000 residents,&#8221; the White House <a href="https://www.whitehouse.gov/articles/2025/08/fact-yes-d-c-crime-is-out-of-control/">said</a>. &#8220;That was the fourth-highest homicide rate in the country — nearly six times higher than New York City and also higher than Atlanta, Chicago, and Compton.&#8221;

Metropolitan Police Department

‘Immediate Action Is Necessary’: D.C. Police Union Backs Trump’s Capital Takeover

National Guard

Washington, D.C., Democratic Mayor Muriel Bowser responded after President Donald Trump <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/were-gonna-take-our-capital-back-heres-everything-trump-is-going-to-do-to-clean-up-d-c?author=Leif+Le+Mahieu&amp;category=undefined&amp;elementPosition=3&amp;row=3&amp;rowHeadline=Latest+News&amp;rowType=Vertical+Carousel&amp;title=%E2%80%98We%E2%80%99re+Gonna+Take+Our+Capital+Back%E2%80%99%3A+Here%E2%80%99s+Everything+Trump+Is+Going+To+Do+To+Clean+Up+D.C.">announced</a> on Monday that he was deploying the National Guard to clean up the capital. The mayor objected to the move and argued that Trump&#8217;s view of crime in D.C. is based on statistics from 2020.
Bowser held a press conference Monday afternoon to discuss how the city would respond to Trump&#8217;s order to federalize D.C. She acknowledged that violent crime spiked during the COVID pandemic and immediately after, but then claimed that new laws squashed the rising crime and &#8220;reversed&#8221; the violent crime outbreak. Bowser then said that Trump&#8217;s announcement was &#8220;unsettling and unprecedented.&#8221;
&#8220;I believe that the president&#8217;s view of D.C. is shaped by his COVID-era experience during his first term,&#8221; Bowser said. &#8220;And it is true that those were challenging times related to some issues. It is also true that we experienced a crime spike post-COVID, but we worked quickly to put laws in place and tactics that got violent offenders off our streets and gave our police officers more tools.&#8221;
&#8220;Which is why we have seen a huge decrease in crime because of those efforts. We have been able to reverse that 2023 crime spike,&#8221; Bowser said, adding that current crime statistics published by the Metropolitan Police Department show the nation&#8217;s capital is at a 30-year low in violent crime.
&#8220;We&#8217;re not satisfied. We haven&#8217;t taken our foot off the gas, and we continue to look for ways to make our city safer,&#8221; Bowser continued.
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-media-max-width="560">
.<a href="https://twitter.com/MayorBowser?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">@MayorBowser</a> on President Trump federalizing DC police: &#8220;While this action today is unsettling and unprecedented, I can&#8217;t say that given some of the rhetoric of the past that we&#8217;re totally surprised.&#8221; <a href="https://t.co/r9TU87KUp7">pic.twitter.com/r9TU87KUp7</a>
— CSPAN (@cspan) <a href="https://twitter.com/cspan/status/1954986466867646826?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">August 11, 2025</a></blockquote>
The White House <a href="https://www.whitehouse.gov/articles/2025/08/fact-yes-d-c-crime-is-out-of-control/">said</a> on Monday that in 2024, D.C. saw &#8220;the fourth-highest homicide rate in the country — nearly six times higher than New York City and also higher than Atlanta, Chicago, and Compton.&#8221;
After saying that Trump had the authority to declare an emergency and federalize law enforcement in D.C., Bowser pushed for statehood for the district.
&#8220;We know that access to our democracy is tenuous. That is why you have heard me and many, many Washingtonians before me advocate for the full statehood of the District of Columbia,&#8221; Bowser said. &#8220;We are American citizens. Our families go to war. We pay taxes, and we uphold the responsibilities of citizenship. While this action today is unsettling and unprecedented, I can&#8217;t say that given some of the rhetoric of the past that we&#8217;re totally surprised.&#8221;
The White House wrote bluntly on Monday, &#8220;If Washington, D.C., was a state, it would have the highest homicide rate of any state in the nation.&#8221;
The Trump administration has also pointed to a Washington, D.C., police commander being placed under investigation for allegedly changing crime statistics. That investigation was announced shortly after the commander filed an equal employment opportunity complaint against an assistant chief, and after the police union accused the Metropolitan Police Department of falsifying crime stats to make it appear as if the city had seen a drop in violent crime, NBC 4 Washington <a href="https://www.nbcwashington.com/news/local/dc-police-commander-suspended-crime-statistics/3959566/">reported</a>.
Mayor Bowser admitted that Trump has the power to take control of law enforcement in D.C., promising that local authorities will coordinate with the federal government. Trump announced on Monday that he is invoking Section 740 of the District of Columbia Home Rule Act and declaring a public emergency. The move allows him to place the D.C. Police Department under the control of the Justice Department, The Daily Wire previously <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/were-gonna-take-our-capital-back-heres-everything-trump-is-going-to-do-to-clean-up-d-c?author=Leif+Le+Mahieu&amp;category=undefined&amp;elementPosition=3&amp;row=3&amp;rowHeadline=Latest+News&amp;rowType=Vertical+Carousel&amp;title=%E2%80%98We%E2%80%99re+Gonna+Take+Our+Capital+Back%E2%80%99%3A+Here%E2%80%99s+Everything+Trump+Is+Going+To+Do+To+Clean+Up+D.C.">reported</a>.

D.C. Mayor Muriel Bowser

‘Unsettling And Unprecedented’: D.C. Mayor Slams Trump’s Takeover, Says Crime Is Dropping

Muriel Bowser

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Zach Jewell