Former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton and House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries are facing intense backlash after downplaying concerns over violent crime in the nation’s capital — and mocking President Donald Trump’s latest move to restore law and order.
Earlier this week, Trump announced his decision to federalize Washington, D.C.’s police department, invoking Section 740 of the District of Columbia Home Rule Act and deploying the National Guard. His goal? To put a stop to what he calls an “out-of-control” crime wave terrorizing residents and visitors alike.
“This is Liberation Day in D.C., and we’re going to take our capital back,” Trump declared during his press conference. “We’re taking it back under the authority vested in me as the president of the United States… and placing the D.C. Metropolitan Police Department under direct federal control.”
As expected, the left rushed to discredit Trump’s initiative.
Hillary Clinton took to X to attack Trump, calling his move “unhinged” and insisting that “violent crime in DC is at a 30-year low.” She shared a Department of Justice press release from earlier this year in an effort to support her claim. Jeffries echoed her sentiment, accusing Trump of having “zero credibility on the issue of law and order.”
But conservatives and law enforcement advocates were quick to call out the misinformation — and point to the harsh reality that D.C. residents face daily.
“On top of being a big-time loser, you’re also a massive liar,” White House deputy press secretary Abigail Jackson fired back on X, alongside a story about a D.C. police commander being suspended for allegedly manipulating crime data.
“If Hillary Clinton thinks DC is safe, she should go move to Anacostia or Navy Yard,” said conservative commentator Steve Guest, referencing neighborhoods in D.C. that have seen a surge in violent crime.
And they’re not wrong to be concerned. In 2023, Washington, D.C. saw a murder rate of 41 per 100,000 — higher than notoriously dangerous cities like Bogota, Colombia or Mexico City, as Trump pointed out using FBI and international data. Carjackings and auto thefts have skyrocketed, with incidents involving juveniles becoming increasingly common and sometimes deadly. Just this past June, a 21-year-old congressional intern, Eric Tarpinian-Jachym, was tragically killed in a shooting — yet the left still insists crime is “under control.”
Even if 2024 statistics show a slight year-to-year drop — with violent crime reportedly down 26%, homicides down 12%, and assaults with a deadly weapon down 20% — context matters. Those declines follow record-breaking spikes, and many experts have warned that recent improvements could be statistical noise or the result of shifting police reporting practices, not actual safety gains.
The nonpartisan research group Just Facts added more clarity, warning against comparing crime rates over time due to inconsistent law enforcement reporting. “Jeffries’ stat is deceitful,” they posted, noting the FBI has cautioned against direct year-over-year comparisons. Just Facts highlighted that murder — the most accurately tracked crime — remains disturbingly high, with the 2024 murder rate still 83% higher than in 2012.
Critics also slammed Democrats more broadly for their soft-on-crime stance.
“Why do Democrats always take up for thugs, violent criminals, and illegals over law-abiding citizens?” asked one user on social media. “Democrats are lining up to oppose crime being lower in DC,” added Clay Travis, founder of OutKick. “It’s bonkers.”
GOP Congressman William Timmons took it further, writing, “Democrats like Jeffries would rather preserve dangerous cities than admit their policies fail.”
Trump’s press conference made it clear: he’s not waiting around for Washington’s Democrat-controlled local government to get its act together. He laid out a blistering case against the current state of D.C., citing data and real-life horror stories. His decision to federalize the police and send in the National Guard is not a publicity stunt — it’s a necessary intervention in a city that’s become unrecognizable under decades of progressive leadership.
As Trump said plainly, “This is much higher. The number of car thefts has doubled over the past five years, and the number of carjackings has more than tripled. Murders in 2023 reached the highest rate, probably ever.”
No amount of spin from Clinton or Jeffries can change that.
For those tired of the gaslighting and political games, Trump’s message resonates loud and clear: It’s time to put law-abiding citizens first and take America’s capital city back from the brink.
