President Donald Trump gave a sprawling speech and distributed hamburgers to law enforcement in Washington D.C. on Thursday in a bid to tout his efforts at combating crime.
The move comes as Trump has commenced a federal takeover of D.C ’s police and sent in hundreds of National Guard troops, even though violent crime in the city is at a 30-year low.
While he’d previously announced a patrol with officers, Trump’s appearance resembled more of a staged event featuring him and other top administration officials, including Attorney General Pam Bondi, Interior Secretary Doug Burgum and U.S. Attorney for the District of Columbia Jeanine Pirro, speaking to a crowd of police, federal agents and National Guard troops. (It wasn’t immediately clear if he’d join officers in the city later on.)
“We’re not playing games. We’re going to make it safe, and we’re going to then go on to other places, but we’re going to stay here for a while,” Trump claimed in remarks that spanned a range of topics including his new White House ballroom, artificial intelligence and the state of grass in D.C. parks.
Trump’s event on Thursday only adds to critiques from Democrats, who have argued that his actions in D.C. are a “stunt” intended to distract from other controversies his administration is suffering from including the Justice Department’s handling of the Jeffrey Epstein files.
