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12h ago

White House Touts D.C. Crime Operation as Arrests Pass 550 and DOJ Probes City Data

A federally directed surge under a Home Rule emergency has triggered legal challenges over D.C.’s self-governance.

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District of Columbia National Guard soldiers patrol on the National Mall, Thursday, August 14, 2025, in Washington. The U.S. Capitol is seen in the distance. (AP Photo/Jacquelyn Martin)
Pedestrians pass an MRAP (Mine Resistant Ambush Protected Vehicles) combat vehicle deployed by the Washington DC National Guard outside Union Station on August 14, 2025 in Washington, DC. (Photo by Win McNamee/Getty Images)
Members of the Drug Enforcement Agency and Police patrol the Lincoln Memorial on August 15, 2025 in Washington, DC.

Overview

  • Vice President J.D. Vance, Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth and aide Stephen Miller visited Union Station to praise National Guard troops as protesters jeered, with Miller deriding demonstrators as “stupid white hippies.”
  • The operation combines roughly 800 D.C. Guard troops with more than 1,100 additional Guard soldiers from six Republican-led states and hundreds of federal agents, with forces highly visible around Union Station, the National Mall and nightlife corridors.
  • U.S. Attorney General Pam Bondi says more than 550 people have been arrested since Aug. 7 and at least 76 guns seized, though the administration has not clarified how many arrests were by federal agents versus the Metropolitan Police Department.
  • The Justice Department has opened an investigation into whether D.C. crime data were manipulated as city statistics show crime down year over year, a claim the White House disputes while pointing to the new arrest and seizure figures.
  • A court-negotiated compromise left MPD Chief Pamela Smith in day-to-day control, federal prosecutors were told to maximize federal charges, and U.S. Attorney Jeanine Pirro will no longer seek charges for violations of D.C.’s rifle and shotgun carry law; Guard arming policies remain unsettled.