White House correspondents and reporters have complained and cited instances of violent crime taking place in Washington, DC, throughout the past several years.
Garrett Haake, a Senior White House Correspondent with NBC News; Weijia Jiang, a Senior White House Correspondent with CBS News; Meridith McGraw, a White House reporter with the Wall Street Journal; and Kaitlan Collins, CNN’s Chief White House Correspondent are among the reporters who have documented instances of crime throughout the years in the nation’s capital.
“BREAKING: Pregnant woman shot in NE DC last week who lost babies was innocent bystander in retaliation shooting, @MayorBowser says. @wusa9,” Haake wrote in a post on X from September 2016.
“Appears police missed a shell casing at NE DC shooting scene,” Haake wrote in another post from December 2015. “Neighbors heard 10+ shots. More at 630 on @wusa9.”
In a post from August 2021, it was revealed that Jiang’s bike had been stolen in Washington, DC.
“DC stolen bike Twitter, do your thing,” Jiang wrote in a post.
In another post from July 2016, Jiang revealed that Union State in the District of Columbia had been “evacuated” due to a bomb threat.
“Anthony Guglielmi, comms chief for US Secret Service, says no protectee impacted by reported shooting underway in DC but uniform division of Secret Service is providing mutual aid to Metropolitan Police Department,” Collins wrote in a post from April 2022. “It appears multiple victims were shot & they are assisting.”
“The San Diego-Washington baseball game has been halted after Nationals said a shooting was reported outside the stadium,” Zeke Miller, the Deputy Washington Bureau Chief for the Associated Press, wrote in a post from July 2021.
In a post from January 2024, McGraw shared an article about a 23-year-old Catholic volunteer, Ryan Realbuto, who had been “working with at-risk youths in DC.” Realbuto was shot and killed while walking home at night.
“My heart goes out to this young man’s family,” McGraw wrote in her post. “The 23 year old was a Catholic volunteer working with at-risk youths in DC and was shot dead Thursday night returning from a church event.”
“Washington, DC police chief says fun crimes up 14% in January,” Chris Sheridan, a Senior White House Producer with Al Jazeera, wrote in a post from February 2023.
“DEVELOPING: RNC HQ in DC is under lockdown until further notice,” Dasha Burns, a White House Bureau Chief with Politico, wrote in a post from May 2024. “Hazmat team is on site sources tell me.”
On Monday, President Donald Trump revealed during a press conference that he was “officially invoking section 740 of the District of Columbia Home Rule Act” and that the Metropolitan Police Department (MPD) would be under “direct federal control.”
During the press conference, Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth also announced that the National Guard and other specialized units had been mobilized to address crime in the nation’s capital.
Trump placing the MPD under federal control and the mobilization of the National Guard came after Edward Coristine, a well-known DOGE member referred to as “Big Balls” as assaulted in Washington, DC. Trump responded by threatening to take “federal control” of D.C. unless the crime was addressed, and he called for the city to change its law regarding prosecuting minors as adults.
Breitbart News previously reported that in response to Trump’s plan to address the crime in the city, Washington, DC, Mayor Muriel Bowser (D) claimed that his “view of D.C. is shaped by his COVID-era experience during his first term.”
“I’ve said before, and I’ll repeat that I believe that the President’s view of D.C. is shaped by his COVID-era experience during his first term,” Bowser said. “And it is true that those were more challenging times related to some issues. It is also true that we experienced a crime spike post COVID, but we work quickly to put laws in place and tactics that got violent offenders off our streets and gave our police officers more tools, which is why we have seen a huge decrease in crime.”
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