President Donald Trump’s federalization of Washington, D.C.—which was initially met with mixed reactions—has yielded massive results on an issue that has long been hidden in plain view. Kyra Phillips, the anchor for ABC News, revealed on-air that she was “jumped” just two blocks from her Washington, D.C. studio, “during the past two years.”
Violent crime in the nation’s capital has reportedly dropped since 2023, according to data from the Metropolitan Police Department (MPD). Still, Phillips pointed out that multiple alleged incidents have taken place near ABC News’ Washington, D.C., bureau—including two network employees who were reportedly among the victims.
“We’ve been talking so much about the numbers and yeah, usually that’s how you play devil’s advocate, is you talk about, ‘Oh, well stats say crime is down.’ However, I can tell you firsthand here in downtown D.C. where we work right here around our bureau just in the past six months, you know, there were two people shot,” Phillips said. “One person died literally two blocks down here from the bureau.”
“It was within the last two years that I actually was jumped walking just two blocks down from here. And then just this morning one of my coworkers said her car was stolen a block away from the bureau,” she continued.
“So we can talk about the numbers going down, but crime is happening every single day because we’re all experiencing it firsthand while working and living down here,” Phillips continued.
While violent crime in Washington, D.C., is reportedly down 26% compared to 2024, the MPD’s crime tracker shows there have still been 99 homicides in the city so far in 2025.
Meanwhile, D.C. Police Commander Michael Pulliam is under investigation over allegations that he manipulated crime statistics, NBC4 Washington reported in July. The department suspended him, but Pulliam has denied any wrongdoing.
Federal agencies have embedded with local police, assisting in arrests, searches, and warrant executions while patrolling the city in unmarked vehicles, CNN noted further.
At the same time, immigration enforcement surged. Federal officials have arrested about 300 individuals in the district without legal immigration status — more than ten times the typical weekly number of ICE arrests in the city.
Officials told CNN that ICE agents have been accompanying MPD officers and intervening when individuals stopped or questioned are found to be in the country unlawfully.
In response to CNN’s findings, White House spokeswoman Abigail Jackson stated that the media was attempting to dismiss the “exceptional results” of Trump’s efforts in Washington, D.C.
“The drops in crime are not ‘moderate,’ they are life-changing for the countless of DC residents and visitors who have not been murdered, robbed, carjacked, or victims of overall violent crime in the last week,” Jackson said. “The priority of this operation remains getting violent criminals off the streets — regardless of immigration status.”
Washington, D.C., Mayor Muriel Bowser has imposed a four-night citywide curfew for residents under the age of 18, effective immediately, in response to a surge of youth-related violence and disorder that has gripped the nation’s capital recently.
National Guard troops in Washington, D.C., are now preparing for winter as leadership signals that their deployment could extend well into summer 2026.
According to emails filed in a new court document, Trump’s interim commanding general of the D.C. National Guard, General Leland Blanchard, instructed officers to “plan and prepare for a long-term persistent presence.”
In a message sent on September 17, 2025, to generals from other states, Blanchard said he had directed Guard units currently stationed in the District to “work quickly toward ‘wintering’ our formation,” indicating an extended mission in the nation’s capital.
While the current deployment of National Guard troops in Washington, D.C., is authorized through November 30, 2025, General Blanchard noted in his email that their presence could extend through “America 250,” the nation’s semiquincentennial celebration scheduled for the summer of 2026.
Although National Guard personnel are not permitted to make arrests directly, the Trump administration has credited their presence with contributing to a sharp drop in crime and a surge in law enforcement activity across the city.
Since the operation began on August 11, more than 2,000 arrests have been recorded — roughly 1,500 by the Metropolitan Police Department and the remainder by federal partners, including agents from ICE, CBP, the FBI, DEA, and ATF.
