On Wednesday’s broadcast of CNN’s “Situation Room,” D.C. City Councilman Zachary Parker (D) criticized “the characterization that D.C. is some slum and dangerous.” And stated that “we are seeing a surge of federal officers that are harassing individuals in all quadrants of our city, that are posing real risk to Washingtonians.”
Co-host Wolf Blitzer asked, “What’s your reaction to what’s been going on in our city over these past several days?”
Parker answered, “I would say it’s outrageous. Residents are demanding that we push back on what’s happening in this city, as well as the characterization that D.C. is some slum and dangerous.”
Later in the interview, Parker said, “What we do know is that the federal government is wasting millions of dollars through this political stunt that is not making residents safer. In fact, when you look at the numbers, the federal government is producing worse outcomes than our Metropolitan Police Department would on an average night, normally. And it just doesn’t track with the facts.”
Blitzer then asked, “A lot of observers here in Washington, myself included, have noted that these federal troops are mainly in the city’s tourist areas, the National Mall, Union Station — the big railroad station here in Washington — and elsewhere, but they’re not necessarily in neighborhoods where crime and shootings are still taking place. Is that your understanding?”
Parker answered, “That is my understanding. We are seeing National Guardsmen deployed near Metro stations and on federal properties. And I want to be clear, our National Guardsmen are heroes. They signed up to serve in moments of crisis and to assist with logistics, not to police and patrol the nation’s capital. That said, we are seeing a surge of federal officers that are harassing individuals in all quadrants of our city, that are posing real risk to Washingtonians. And it’s important for Americans, wherever you live, to stand with us in this moment.”
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