Trump claims Democrats told him it’s safe to dine in DC as bookings plunge

Donald Trump has claimed that Democrats are ringing him to thank him for making it “safe” to dine out in Washington DC , despite restaurants seeing a sharp decline in attendance since his police takeover. Speaking to reporters on Monday (18 August) with Volodymyr Zelensky, the US president claimed that restaurants “in the last two days were busier than they’ve been in a long time”. He said: “Democrats are calling me up and they’re saying, ‘Sir, I want to thank you. My wife and I went out to dinner last night for the first time in four years, and Washington DC is safe.’” Last week, Trump ordered the National Guard to the city and seized control of the “lawless” city’s police force for 30 days, in a move to “rescue our nation’s capital from crime”. Since the deployment of federal troops, restaurant attendance has plummeted by as much as 31%, research from Open Table found.