BURSTU.S. Attorney for the District of Columbia Jeanine Pirro warned Monday night that President Trump’s deployment of the National Guard in the Washington was “just the beginning,” characterizing the crime rates in the nation’s capital as “horrific.”
“President Trump has rightfully declared an emergency crisis of crime and deployed the National Guard, the ATF, the DEA, the FBI, so that criminals know now that we see them," she said during an apperance on Fox News with host Sean Hannity. "We are watching them and we are gonna make them accountable. But make no mistake, Sean, this is just beginning."
Trump announced earlier Monday that the Justice Department (DOJ) would be taking control of D.C.'s Metropolitan Police Department (MPD) and that around 800 National Guard troops would be involved in the federal government’s effort to lower crime rates.
“I’m deploying the National Guard to help reestablish law, order, and public safety in Washington, D.C., and they’re going to be allowed to do their job properly,” the president said Monday during a press conference from the White House.
Data shows that, so far, violent crime is down 26 percent compared to 2024 in the nation’s capital, and that homicides last year dropped by 32 percent compared to 2023. But, the number of homicides last year, 187, was still higher than in the years in the lead-up to the COVID-19 pandemic.
A Metropolitan Police Department police commander, Michael Pulliam, was placed on paid leave in May and is under investigation for allegedly altering crime numbers in his district, NBC4 reported last month.
“Today was, as the president called it, ‘Liberation Day.’ But we are now in the process of bringing to the attention of law-abiding citizens, not just in D.C., but throughout the country, that we’re not gonna tolerate crime that is out of control in the nation’s capital,” Pirro told host Sean Hannity.
“This is the shining city on the hill that our forefathers talked about," she added.
D.C. Mayor Muriel Bowser, along with a host of other Democratic mayors, pushed back on Trump administration's moves, calling it "unsettling and unprecedented." But, she added that it was not surprising.
The president's effort is being carried out through provisions under the city's Home Rule Act. Congress passed the law in the 1970s to give the nation's capital autonomy over its local affairs.
Trump also appointed Drug Enforcement Administration chief Terry Cole to lead the federal takeover of MPD.