President Donald Trump and FBI Director Kash Patel, on Wednesday, touted the FBI’s crackdown on violent crime since the start of the administration, and Trump called for his top law enforcement officials to zone in on San Francisco.
Trump, Patel, Attorney General Pam Bondi, and Deputy Attorney General Todd Blanche held a press conference in the Oval Office to update the public on the administration’s successes in combating crime.
According to a graphic shared by the FBI, it has arrested 28,859 criminals in 2025, on pace to more than double the 15,388 violent criminal arrests in 2024, the final full year of the Biden administration.
“The FBI has also destroyed or severely disrupted more than 170 organized criminal enterprises and gangs, 1,600 of the most violent gangs, and confiscated over 6,000 illegal firearms, and they’ve tracked down and arrested four fugitives on the most wanted list,” Trump said, noting two of them were at the top of the most wanted list.
Trump also touted the results of “Operation Summer Heat,” a national crime crackdown conducted in every state from June 24, 2025, to September 20, 2025.
“We were in many cities that people didn’t know about. We kept it a little quiet, and it had a big impact,” he said.
“But over the past few months, FBI offices in all 50 states made crushing violent crime a top enforcement priority; that’s what they did, rounding up and arresting thousands of the most violent and dangerous criminals,” he added.
Operation Summer Heat led to 8,629 violent crime arrests, the seizures of 2,281 firearms, 421 kilograms of fentanyl, 44,569 kilograms of cocaine, and the identification of 557 children, according to the FBI. The fentanyl alone, Patel said, was enough to kill 55 million Americans. Operation Summer Heat also produced 2.081 indictments.
“Mr. President, that in and of itself would be historic for a four-year presidency,” Patel said after highlighting the indictments. “You did that in seven months because you let good cops be cops, and you partnered us with the right people in the Department of Justice to put the handcuffs on and bring them to court and put them in prison.”
Trump also noted that he is setting his eyes on San Francisco, stating he has received requests for federal help from “government officials.”
“I’m going to be strongly recommending at the request of government officials, which is always nice, that you start looking at San Francisco,” he told Patel, Bondi, and Blanche.
“One of our great cities 10 years ago, 15 years ago,” he added. “Now, it’s a mess, and we have great support in San Francisco. So I’d like to recommend that for inclusion, maybe in your next group. You’ll get great support.”
Trump also said there would be a federal “surge” in Chicago after Patel and the Bureau laid groundwork there.
“Five months ago, they went into Chicago, and they started doing a lot of work in Chicago, and we brought the numbers down a little bit, but that really was just preparatory work for what we’re going to do with the surge,” he stated.
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