Far-left Politico was busted pushing a hoax about Trump’s federal crime crackdown in their periodical “Playbook” newsletter on Saturday, and the paper was publicly issued a correction from White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt.
This comes after President Trump’s declaration of a “public safety emergency” in the nation’s capital, which federalized the DC police force and deployed hundreds of National Guard troops and federal agents on the streets to tackle the rampant crime, homelessness, and illegal immigration crises. President Trump declared last Monday that it was “Liberation Day in DC” and, already, hundreds of criminals have been taken off the streets, along with multiple drugs and weapons seizures.
As The Gateway Pundit reported earlier, West Virginia, Ohio, and South Carolina have pledged hundreds of troops each, in line with his Presidential memorandum authorizing state governors to send their troops, to help President Trump make DC safe again.
South Carolina and Ohio Join West Virginia in Sending National Guard Troops to Washington DC
Politico reported that “a group of masked law enforcement officers arrested a moped driver” as pedestrians and onlookers demanded answers from the officers. The report, which makes the incident appear to be a random kidnapping and violation of the “moped driver’s” rights, continues, “they took the moped driver into an unmarked SUV and spirited him off, destination unknown.”
Karoline Leavitt said the piece was “written to fear DC residents into believing federal law enforcement randomly arrested an innocent ‘moped driver.’”
Per Politico:
THE IN-BETWEEN: Yesterday morning, just off of 14th Street NW, a group of masked law enforcement officers arrested a moped driver. Onlookers stood near a coffee shop and the entrance to a luxury condo building, recording the altercation on their phones; WaPo reporter Dan Rosenzweig-Ziff was among them. Shouts from the crowd that the officers — whose vests read simply “police” — identify the agency with which they were affiliated were dismissed. “Do I have to answer to you?” one officer barked back, his question rhetorical. “You’ve gotta answer to somebody,” yelled a pedestrian. The officers never identified themselves, never provided their badge numbers, never revealed their agency. They took the moped driver into an unmarked SUV and spirited him off, destination unknown. A block away, the weekend brunch service at Le Diplomate continued without interruption.
Welcome to the first weekend of President Donald Trump’s crackdown on Washington, D.C., which, serious as it has been, is just a prelude — and things could quickly get much more intense.
Three Republican-led states — West Virginia, Ohio and South Carolina — “said Saturday they will send up to 750 National Guard troops to join 800 already mobilized in D.C.,” WaPo’s Karen DeYoung and Gaya Gupta report. It’s not a leap to imagine that other GOP states will scramble to follow suit, given the chance to publicly and tangibly show their support for the Trump administration: “Trump: Yes or no?” continues to be the dividing line defining American politics.
And troops deployed to DC “are preparing to start carrying weapons in the coming days,” WSJ’s Vera Bergengruen and colleagues scooped, “a major shift that comes days after President Trump said he was deploying them to ‘take back’ the capital from what he described as violent criminals.”
Leavitt fired back, condemning the far-left media outlet for refusing to conduct due diligence by asking the White House for more information, and she notified them that the suspect was a criminal illegal alien and potential cartel-affiliated designated foreign terrorist.
Additionally, “the Illegal Alien Criminal resisted arrest and a law enforcement officer suffered a concussion as a result,” she said.
@Politico Playbook today was written to fear DC residents into believing federal law enforcement randomly arrested an innocent “moped driver.”
If Politico had reached out to the White House for comment before publishing, we could have provided them with the facts:
The “moped driver” was an Illegal Alien Criminal from Venezuela with suspected gang affiliation and an active final order of removal from the country. Upon his arrest, the Illegal Alien Criminal resisted arrest and a law enforcement officer suffered a concussion as a result.
.@Politico Playbook today was written to fear DC residents into believing federal law enforcement randomly arrested an innocent “moped driver.”
If Politico had reached out to the White House for comment before publishing, we could have provided them with the facts:
The “moped… pic.twitter.com/JeMksKnRNp
— Karoline Leavitt (@PressSec) August 17, 2025
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