Trump DC Police Takeover And National Guard Deployment Won't 'Make Us Safer': Councilmember

4 months ago

Washington D.C. Councilmember at-large Robert White joined "Forbes Newsroom" to discuss President Donald Trump deploying the National Guard to the nation's capital and federalizing the city's police force.

Transcript

00:00Hi, everybody. I'm Brittany Lewis, a breaking news reporter here at Forbes. Joining me now

00:07is Washington, D.C. Council Member at Large, Robert White. Council Member, thank you so much

00:11for joining me. Thanks for having me, Brittany. I understand you must have had a busy week so far,

00:17and it's only Thursday. There's a lot going on in the nation's capital, and I would love if you

00:21could provide some clarity as to what exactly that is, because earlier this week, President

00:26Trump announced that he was federalizing the D.C. police force. He also was deploying the National

00:31Guard to the nation's capital, and he said that's because crime is out of control in D.C. Those are

00:37his words, and this came after a 19-year-old former Doge staffer was assaulted by a group of teens in

00:42the city. So to start off the conversation, what are your thoughts on what exactly is happening right

00:46now? Look, I regret when anyone is injured or harmed in D.C. One crime is too much, and that's something

00:53we know in D.C. That's why we have been working so aggressively to push crime down. Crime, violent

00:59crime is down 26 percent in D.C. just since last year, and so the facts that the president is giving

01:06the country aren't true. Like everyone else in the country, we have more work to do, but sending

01:12military federal officers into the streets of D.C. and telling them from the president of the United

01:18States to rough people up and violate their rights, that is not appropriate, nor is it going to make

01:24us safer. It's going to cause significant outreach. It's going to move us backwards.

01:29And what's the mood amongst your constituents? Are they welcoming this change? Are they not? I mean,

01:35what are they saying? Well, everyone wants to feel safe, and I think there's a small population in D.C.

01:42who says, look, the more law enforcement, the better, because that will make us safer. But what

01:47most people know in D.C. and what I think we'll see play out if there is not a pivot from the White

01:53House is that there's going to be a lot of disruption. There's going to be incredibly

01:57aggressive policing, which we have already seen across history what the end result of that is going

02:03to be. It's going to be anger. It's going to be frustration. It's going to be backlash. It's going to

02:07be protests. So what we're seeing is the federalization and militarization of law enforcement

02:15in D.C. The end is not going to be good. And so we wish the White House wanted to be a partner,

02:20but that is not what it looks like they want to be. Has anyone, speaking of partnerships,

02:25has anyone in the White House or the Trump administration reached out to you or any other

02:29member of the city council to see how you guys can work together?

02:32No. In fact, many weeks ago, I reached out to the White House to start meeting with staff to

02:41understand what their concerns were and how we could work with them. That meeting did not get

02:46scheduled. On their end, they said, no, we're not going to take this meeting. But what residents in

02:53D.C. see, what I think people across the country see is that this claim about public safety is not on

03:00the up and up. So if you praise and pardon people who beat bloody local and federal police officers on

03:08January 6th and then turn around and say, my concern in D.C. is public safety, say that people

03:14committing crimes in D.C. are thugs and we need to rough them up, that is inconsistent at best. This

03:20is not about public safety. This is about using D.C. as a political pawn. And what folks across the

03:26nation, including where you are in New York, know from the president's words at the press conference

03:31on Monday is that he doesn't plan to stop this at D.C. He does plan to go to New York, to California,

03:38to Illinois, to Maryland. And so this is really the tip of the spear.

03:44And what's your message then to those other cities? Because other cities that you've mentioned,

03:48and it seems like other cities that the president said that this is not over are going to be blue

03:54cities, Democrat-run cities. What's your message to them? Well, every city. It's not just Democratic

04:01cities. It's cities across the nation. I think the president is saying if he doesn't agree with

04:07your policies, he'll move troops into your city. And what folks should understand is this is not the

04:16appropriate measure in a democracy. And when you have places like D.C., like Baltimore, that are having

04:22great success in pushing crime down, then the appropriate thing to do is to partner with us.

04:29There was a time in this country where people didn't have to agree on everything in order to

04:33work on some things together. But we're moving further away. And that is not to the good of our

04:39nation. That is not to the good of our democracy. So my message to people across the nation is

04:44be wary about ignoring the tip of the spear, because many of those folks will be next on the

04:51list. I'm curious what you think of the timing of President Trump's actions, because the DOJ

04:56announced at the beginning of 2025 that violent crime in D.C. hit a 30-year low in 2024. Homicides

05:03are down. Carjackings are down. And I know you said one crime is one crime too many. One crime is too

05:09much. But the U.S. attorney for D.C., Janine Pirro, this is what she said. She said that this

05:13is a message that the administration, the Trump administration, is not going to tolerate crime.

05:18And she said, you tell the kid who was just beat to hell and back with a severe concussion and a

05:23broken nose, crime is down. No, that falls on deaf ears. And my ears are deaf to that. And that's why

05:28I fight the fight. What do you make of that argument that you see some Republicans pushing, saying,

05:33hey, I don't know why Democrats are getting involved and being on the other side of crime

05:40fighting? Well, I think everybody, regardless of where they live or their political background,

05:47wants to feel safer. So what we need to do is follow the facts and follow the data. If the data say that

05:55crime is dropping, then that's an indication we need to do more of that thing. If we all understand that

06:01nobody has a monopoly on good ideas, but we also don't ignore the truth or the data, then we're

06:07moving in the right direction. So for anybody who has been a victim of crime in D.C. or anywhere in the

06:14nation, for anyone whose loved ones have been victims of crime, you, like me, want us to be safer

06:19very quickly. But when we diverge from what's working, we don't move to the place that all of us

06:27want to move, which is continuing to push crime down. If we were moving in the wrong direction,

06:31this would be a different conversation. But we are moving in the right direction.

06:36And I want to talk about what's happening next when it comes to homeless people, because Trump said

06:41that he wants to see homeless people move out. And then White House Press Secretary Caroline Levitt,

06:46she was asked about how they will be dealt with. And this is what she said.

06:49Homeless individuals will be given the option to leave their encampment, to be taken to a homeless

06:53shelter, to be offered addiction or mental health services. And if they refuse, they will be

06:59susceptible to fines or to jail time. And she said those are pre-existing laws that just haven't been

07:03enforced. What do you make of that? I think when we're saying we're going to fine homeless people

07:10for being homeless, we're not serious about solutions. It's laughable. I wish I could laugh to

07:17stop from crying. The reality is nobody's first choice is to live outside. If someone's living

07:24outside, something is wrong and we need to fix it. This is a nation that has the resources to address

07:31homelessness, to address needs, but we have to be serious about it. Putting our foot down on people

07:37who are already at the bottom will never help them get to the top. We've got to be serious about

07:43solving problems. This is not a serious approach. And then what would you say then to the

07:48administration there when it comes to helping unhoused people? I mean, what's the solution

07:52there? What the District of Columbia has done is used a housing first model. That is to say,

08:00we work with people on mental health needs. Most people who are unhoused in the District of Columbia

08:05face mental health and or addiction issues. If we don't help them with that, even if you throw

08:11them in the hospital, you throw them in jail, you put them in an apartment, they're not going to

08:16succeed. They're going to end up right back there. In politics, what people are tired of is folks

08:22talking a good game and not delivering and kicking the can down the road. We have to move past both of

08:28those things. We have real solutions in D.C., but it requires federal partnership. Unlike every other

08:35city, D.C. doesn't have a state to support its efforts. So everything we do, we are funding from

08:41the pockets of D.C. taxpayers, and we need more partnership, real partnership from the federal

08:46government. And you said in a statement after President Trump's announcement here that this is

08:51a moment that shows why D.C. needs statehood. Can you talk about that take?

08:55D.C. statehood has been the priority of only D.C. residents for generations. My hope is that

09:04the rest of the country now realizes why D.C. statehood matters. Because we don't enjoy the

09:11same democratic rights as any other Americans, no senators, no voting member of Congress, that means

09:17we are susceptible to the bullying tactics of any presidential administration that wants to bully us

09:25But here, D.C. is used as a political pawn because we are prey. And we are used as pawns in a way

09:33that folks across the nation are going to see. If D.C. had statehood, the president could not take

09:39control of its National Guard, could not federalize its police department, and we would have at least

09:44some say in Congress over what's happening in D.C. that's going to happen in other parts of the nation

09:50soon.

09:50Councilmember, I can only imagine, like I said at the top of this conversation, just how busy you are.

09:54So I appreciate you taking the time today. As we see the situation develop in D.C. and perhaps other

10:00cities around the country, I hope you can come back on and join me. Councilmember Robert White,

10:05you're welcome back anytime.

10:08Thanks, Brittany. I appreciate you.

Trump DC Police Takeover And National Guard Deployment Won't 'Make Us Safer': Councilmember

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