00:00And while this action today is unsettling and unprecedented,
00:05I can't say that given some of the rhetoric of the past
00:09that we're totally surprised.
00:12I can say to D.C. residents
00:15that we will continue to operate our government
00:18in a way that makes you proud.
00:22We will balance our budgets, we will deploy our services,
00:26our kids are going to start school on August 25th,
00:30and we will work with the federal government
00:33to do the things that they should do for our city.
00:37We know that access to our democracy is tenuous.
00:41That is why you have heard me
00:43and many, many Washingtonians before me
00:48advocate for full statehood for the District of Columbia.
00:52We are American citizens.
00:54Our families go to war.
00:57We pay taxes and we uphold the responsibilities of citizenship.
01:02Though we pay taxes, in fact,
01:05we pay more than most states per capita.
01:10We're not a state.
01:11We don't control the D.C. National Guard.
01:15We don't have senators or full autonomy.
01:18Limited home rule gives the federal government
01:23the ability to intrude on our autonomy in many ways.
01:30I've said before, and I'll repeat,
01:33that I believe that the president's view of D.C.
01:37is shaped by his COVID-era experience during his first term.
01:42It is also true that we experienced a crime spike post-COVID,
01:49but we worked quickly to put laws in place
01:54and tactics that got violent offenders off our streets
01:58and gave our police officers more tools,
02:02which is why we have seen a huge decrease in crime
02:09because of those efforts.
02:11We don't, and I think I speak for all Americans,
02:15we don't believe or believe it's legal
02:17to use the American military against American citizens
02:20on American soil.
02:22I'm not a lawyer, but I think that's a fairly widely held fact.
02:32And so, but we've seen them move, I think,
02:36the active military into California.
02:40So it's a question.
02:43We've seen active military on the borders of D.C. some years ago,
02:48and we don't believe that our military
02:50should be used against American citizens.
02:52And so, but we've seen them move, I think,
02:57the active military into California.
03:00So it is, it's a question.
03:03We've seen active military on the borders of D.C. some years ago,
03:08and we don't believe that our military
03:11should be used against American citizens.
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