On Friday’s broadcast of CNN’s “Situation Room,” D.C. Attorney General Brian Schwalb (D) responded to a question on if the arrests and handgun seizures in D.C. touted by the Trump administration are progress by stating that “there has been a lot of confusion and chaos in the city, but what has been clear is that the chief of police, under the guidance of the mayor, has been working with federal law enforcement,” but the “purported takeover of MPD throws that into chaos and confusion.”
Co-host Wolf Blitzer asked, “You argue in your filing that Trump’s actions are, and I’m quoting now from your document, ‘putting the safety of D.C. residents and visitors at risk,’ but since this takeover happened, the Trump administration is touting dozens of criminal arrests for assault and distribution of illegal drugs. It’s also saying that at least 10 handguns have been seized. Do you see any of that as progress?”
Schwalb responded, “Look, over the last week, there has been a lot of confusion and chaos in the city, but what has been clear is that the chief of police, under the guidance of the mayor, has been working with federal law enforcement, which, by the way, we do all day, every day here in this city. But the disruption, the takeover — purported takeover of MPD throws that into chaos and confusion. And as Chief Smith has said, in the papers, in her nearly 30 years of enforcing the law, both as a federal law enforcement officer and as Chief of Police, she has never seen any action that causes more risk to the public’s safety than the actions of A.G. Bondi last night in her Bondi order of about 7:45 at night.”
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