White House says homeless people in DC could be forced into shelter or jailed
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The White House promised to make Washington, D.C., the safest city in the world as the National Guard began arriving in the district on Tuesday.
Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt said during a press briefing that 850 officers and agents were surged across the capital last night.
“They made a total of 23 arrests ... these arrests consisted of homicide, firearms offenses, possession with intent to distribute narcotics, fair evasion, lewd acts, stalking, possession of a high capacity magazine ... driving under the influence, reckless driving, and a bench warrant,” she said.
This comes after Democrats lambasted President Donald Trump for deploying the National Guard and taking control of the city’s police force.
Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer called the actions “a political ploy and attempted distraction from Trump’s other scandals.”
The dramatic move was in response to what the president claims is an “out of control” crime problem in the capital, even though data shows a recent decline.
Guardsmen are also being deployed “to help re-establish” public safety, Trump said at a press conference with top officials Monday, adding, “This is Liberation Day in D.C. and we’re going to take our capital back.”
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Trump says crime in Washington DC is ‘out of control’. The stats suggest otherwiseTrump just took over DC with vow to stop ‘thugs’ from abusing cops. He already pardoned hundreds of themPentagon is already calling National Guard in other states looking for units that could help in DCTrump team looking to create squad of 600 soldiers ready to deploy at a moments notice to quash civil unrestCore inflation jumps as consumers face higher prices with Trump’s tariffs kick in
Key Points
Trump says he will take over DC police and deploy 800 National Guard membersPresident says DC is in chaos. The crime stats tell another storyRev. Al Sharpton accuses Trump of 'ultimate affront to justice'In pictures: Federal agents descend on DCMAGA influencer Charlie Kirk calls for ‘full military occupation’ of American cities
41 minutes ago
JD Vance to host Robert Jenrick at Cotswolds holiday home - but not Badenoch
JD Vance is to host Robert Jenrick at his holiday retreat in the Cotswolds, in a move that will do little to dampen speculation about the senior Tory’s leadership ambitions.
But the US vice president will not meet the Conservative leader Kemi Badenoch, according to reports.
Mr Vance is taking a surprise summer break in Britain, staying with his family at an 18th-century Georgian manor, after spending the weekend with the foreign secretary David Lammy.
Read more:
JD Vance to host Robert Jenrick at his UK holiday home - but not Badenoch
US vice president and ally of Donald Trump spent the weekend with foreign secretary David Lammy
Kate Devlin13 August 2025 02:20
1 hour ago
National Guard troops arrive in Washington DC as Trump’s federal takeover begins
PresidentDonald Trump took unprecedented steps toward federalizing Washington, D.C. on Monday, saying it’s needed to fight crime even as city leaders pointed to data showing violence is down.
He took command of the police department and deployed the National Guard under laws and Constitutional powers that give the federal government more sway over the nation’s capital than other cities. Its historically majority Black population wasn’t electing its own city council and mayor until 1973, when Republican President Richard Nixon signed the Home Rule Act.
Read more:
The Latest: National Guard troops arrive in Washington DC as Trump’s federal takeover begins
President Donald Trump took unprecedented steps toward federalizing Washington, D
The Associated Press13 August 2025 02:00
1 hour ago
As Trump takes over DC, it's time to get to know the Posse Comitatus Act
As President Donald Trump pushes the bounds of military activity on domestic soil, a polarizing debate has emerged over a nearly 150-year old law that regulates when federal troops can intervene in state issues.
About 800 National Guard troops filed into Washington, D.C., on Tuesday after President Donald Trump said — without substantiation — that they were needed to reduce crime in the “lawless” national capital. Thousands of miles away, a judge in California is hearing arguments about whether the president's recent decision to federalize Guard personnel in Los Angeles during protests against immigration raids violated federal law.
Trump has also created militarized zones along the U.S.-Mexico border as part of a major shift that has thrust the army into immigration enforcement like never before.
The cases in both California and Washington mainly hinge on Posse Comitatus Act, which passed in 1878 and largely prevents the military from enforcing domestic laws. Experts say that in both cases there are clear limitations to the law's enforcement.
More detail in this full story:
The nearly 150-year old law that Trump is testing with domestic troop deployment
President Donald Trump's recent actions have sparked debate over the Posse Comitatus Act, a law from 1878 that limits military involvement in domestic affairs
Safiyah Riddle13 August 2025 01:40
1 hour ago
California official warns that L.A. was 'just the beginning' of Trump's troop-led takeovers
A California official has a stark warning for the rest of the country.
Trump sending National Guard troops to Los Angeles over the summer against the wishes of local officials was “just the beginning.”
“Los Angeles is just the beginning,” California Deputy Attorney General Meghan Strong told a federal court on Tuesday in a suit from the state challenging the deployment. “President Trump has hinted at sending troops even farther, naming Baltimore and even Oakland here in the Bay Area as his next potential targets.”
Trump’s supporters also seem to want a repeat of such tactics beyond the recently announced deployment of federal forces to Washington, and the president has said he’s considering more such operations.
Charlie Kirk calls for ‘full military occupation’ of US cities ‘once we liberate DC’
‘We got to go hard. We gotta go big league. We're talking National Guard, tanks — every street, you need military,’ Charlie Kirk exclaimed on Monday.
Josh Marcus13 August 2025 01:20
2 hours ago
ABC anchor Kyra Phillips says she was jumped by half-dressed homeless man in DC
ABC News anchor Kyra Phillips says she was jumped by a “half-dressed” homeless man in downtown Washington, D.C., recounting the story on air as President Donald Trump vows to crack down on violent crime and homelessness in the capital.
Phillips noted that many DC residents are witnessing the violence Trump has rallied against “firsthand” — despite statistics showing crime in the District has been on the decline.
“In downtown DC, where we work, right here around our bureau, just in the past six months, there were two people shot, one person died, literally two blocks down here from the bureau,” Phillips said.
Read more:
ABC anchor Kyra Phillips says she was jumped by half-dressed homeless man in DC
ABC News anchor Kyra Phillips recounted on air the “scary as h***” moment a homeless man jumped her in downtown Washington, DC.
Isabel Keane13 August 2025 01:00
2 hours ago
National Guard rehearsed MacArthur Park show of force against immigration raid protesters in LA: general
The National Guard repeatedly rehearsed their role in a controversial immigration operation in Los Angeles’s MacArthur Park this summer, a general testified on Tuesday in California’s suit against the White House over the deployment.
Maj. Gen. Scott Sherman, who commanded Guard troops sent to L.A. to quell anti-immigration raid protests and secure federal buildings, told a federal court in San Francisco that federal troops were instructed to remain in their vehicles unless immigration agents came under threat during the operation, which saw mounted Border Patrol agents march through a major city park.
No Guard troops ultimately took part in the raid, during which it is unclear if any undocumented immigrants were arrested.
Here’s more information on the trial, and the raid that the general was talking about.
National Guard rehearsed show of force against immigration raid protesters, general testifies
A general has testified that National Guard troops repeatedly rehearsed their role in an operation at a Los Angeles park intended as a show of force against people protesting immigration raids
Immigration agents swarm LA’s MacArthur Park in show of force drawing ire of mayor
A Border Patrol official said such tactics are going to be ‘normal very soon’
Josh Marcus13 August 2025 00:40
2 hours ago
Civil rights leader sees Trump operation in Washington as part of pattern against Black leaders
Donald Trump’s ongoing, highly unusual federal takeover of law enforcement in the capital may have racist undertones, according to critics.
“He has never thought well of Black elected leaders, and he’s been explicit about that,” Maya Wiley, the president and CEO of the Leadership Conference on Civil and Human Rights, told Politico.
The second Trump administration has deployed the National Guard in two cities so far, Los Angeles and Washington, both of which have mayors who are Black women and Democrats.
In an X post, the Congressional Black Caucus saw a similar threat within the law enforcement operation, calling it a “blatantly racist and despicable power grab” that will lead to “fear and mistrust among communities that have too often been treated as occupied populations.”
The president is reportedly looking at similar operations in other Democratic hubs, including New York and Chicago, both of which have Black men as mayors.
After D.C., Trump wants to ‘takeover’ New York and Chicago. Can he?
Rules governing deployments of National Guard in states will restrict troops’ ability to conduct law enforcement in most jurisdictions, John Bowden writes
Josh Marcus13 August 2025 00:20
3 hours ago
Ex-NBA star begs for Trump pardon after reporting to jail for healthcare fraud scheme
Former NBA player Sebastian Telfair, one of 18 basketball players caught up in a healthcare fraud scheme, has implored President Donald Trump to pardon him as he prepares to report to jail on Tuesday.
Telfair and the other players named in an October 2021 indictment – including Jamario Moon, Glen “Big Baby” Davis, Tony Allen, and Darius Miles – were accused of defrauding the league’s health and welfare benefit plan out of approximately $2.5 million by submitting allegedly fake medical and dental expenses.
“I know Donald Trump got some big things going on but Donald Trump might need to come holla and give your boy a pardon so I can, you know, stay at home with my babies and continue building my career,” the ex-point guard, 40, told TMZ Sports.
Read more:
Ex-NBA star begs for Trump pardon after reporting to jail for healthcare fraud scheme
Sebastian Telfair calls on president to grant him clemency ahead of six-month prison term
Joe Sommerlad13 August 2025 00:00
3 hours ago
Questions remain about scope of National Guard mission in Washington
(Copyright 2025 J. Scott Applewhite. All rights reserved)
Though hundreds of National Guard personnel are currently in the process of being called to Washington, D.C., for Donald Trump’s federal anti-crime crackdown in the capital, the military reportedly doesn’t know the full scope of its mission yet.
An Army spokesperson, speaking on the condition of anonymity, told The Associated Press that the Guard troops are waiting to be assigned a formal mission, but that they know “clearly and distinctly” it will involve supporting law enforcement.
The spokesperson added that the full mobilization of the up to 800 troops that may be called to serve Trump’s mission could take until the end of the week, meaning the full scope of the operation will likely get underway early next week.
Josh Marcus12 August 2025 23:40
3 hours ago
What to know about the National Guard deployment taking shape in Washington
Troops load boxes of rifle ammunition at the District of Columbia National Guard Headquarters in Washington on Tuesday, Aug. 12 (Copyright 2025 J. Scott Applewhite. All rights reserved)
National Guard troops are expected to begin anti-crime patrols in Washington, D.C., on Tuesday night as part of the Trump administration’s highly unusual law enforcement operation in the capital.
On Monday, Trump ordered 800 troops to the city to tackle crime, and at any given time, between 100 and 200 will be supporting law enforcement, the Army told Stars and Stripes.
The Guard members will be serving roles including physical presence in support of law enforcement, logistics, and administrative work, the Army added.
Josh Marcus12 August 2025 23:20
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