Trump administration to seek federal charges against people snared in DC crackdown, sources say
The move marks an escalation of Trump's push against what he has described as a wave of crime and homelessness in Washington, in which the Republican president has already called up hundreds of National Guard troops and temporarily taken over the Democratic-led city's police department.
The head of the criminal division of the Washington, D.C., U.S. Attorney's office, Jonathan Hornok, on Monday told prosecutors to charge as many federal cases as possible against people arrested in the sweeps, a move that could both strain the court system and raise the stakes for criminal defendants because convictions for federal crimes can carry weighty sentences, said the people, who were granted anonymity to discuss internal department matters.
While many of the U.S. federal prosecutors in that office focus on higher-level offenses such as terrorism and fraud, the Washington office plays a dual role in prosecuting both federal and local crimes.
In a post on X on Tuesday, Attorney General Pam Bondi said that since Trump's takeover of the Metropolitan Police Department began, there have been 465 arrests made for a variety of offenses, including homicide, narcotics, and firearm offenses. It was not clear how many of these could be eligible for federal charges.
"In line with President Trump's directive to make D.C. safe, U.S. Attorney (Jeanine) Pirro has made it clear that the old way of doing things is unacceptable. She directed her staff to charge the highest crime that is supported by the law and the evidence," a spokesperson for Pirro's office said on Tuesday.
Dozens of prosecutors have voluntarily left the Washington U.S. Attorney's office since Trump took office in January, while others have been fired. The orders could place additional stress on federal law enforcement agents including those from the FBI who are already stretched thin because they have been ordered to participate in nightly rotational shifts to patrol the capital's streets.
That could leave them less time and resources to help do the follow-up investigations that will be required to support criminal charges, such as interviewing witnesses, canvassing for CCTV footage or following up to obtain DNA evidence, which is often required to win a conviction in D.C. for unlawful firearm possession cases.
The U.S. Attorney's office is planning to bring in about 20 people from the Department of Defense on Monday to serve as special assistant U.S. attorneys to help prosecute the misdemeanor cases, a spokesperson confirmed.
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The Independent
14 minutes ago
- The Independent
Fox News' Mark Levin defends Trump calling himself a ‘war hero': ‘Let me educate the truly stupid'
Shortly after Donald Trump brazenly declared himself a 'war hero' on Tuesday – despite famously never serving in the military – former GOP Rep. Adam Kinzinger derided the president's remarks before noting that 'his people are going to find a way to justify this.' It didn't take long for Mark Levin to answer that challenge. 'YES, TRUMP IS A WAR HERO,' the Fox News host – who also serves on the president's Homeland Security Advisory Council – tweeted on Wednesday. It was on Levin's radio show where the president delivered his self-declaration of heroism in battle, which was in the context of Trump and Levin – an outspoken supporter of Israel – lauding Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu. Describing the Israeli leader as a 'good man' who is 'in there fighting,' Trump went on to praise Netanyahu as a 'war hero' before bestowing that title upon himself. 'He's a war hero, cause we worked together, he's a war hero,' Trump said while chuckling. 'I guess I am, too. Nobody cares, but I am, too. You know, I sent those planes.' The president was referring to the United States joining Israel in its military air campaign against Iran in June, which resulted in American bombers striking three critical nuclear enrichment facilities. Throughout the interview, the president grumbled that he hadn't been given enough credit for the airstrikes – which he's repeatedly claimed 'obliterated' Iran's nuclear capabilities – or other foreign policy accomplishments. 'Let me educate the truly stupid in the grotesquely moronic media and their crackpot surrogates, since President Trump made the war hero comments on my radio show last evening,' Levin posted on X amid criticism of Trump's claiming to be a war hero. Levin, who privately advised Trump to take military action against Iran and raged against MAGA critics of the airstrikes, went on to justify his position by citing past presidents and their achievements as commander-in-chief. 'There are lots of presidents who are war heroes who did not actually fight in a war. Reagan defeated the Soviet Union,' the conservative pundit continued. 'War hero. FDR defeated the Axis powers. War hero. Lincoln won the Civil War. War hero. Trump destroyed Iran's nuclear facilities and everything with them -- which Bush 41 and 43, Clinton, Obama, and Biden said they would prevent, but failed to do. Trump stopped Iran's nuclear threat to the United States in its tracks. He gave the order. He is the commander-in-chief. War hero.' Additionally, Levin also defended the president's description of Netanyahu as a 'war hero.' Unlike Trump, who never served in uniform, Netanyahu was a soldier in the Israel Defense Forces who fought in both the Yom Kippur War and the 1967-1970 War of Attrition, and was injured several times in combat. 'AND congratulations to President Trump for also recognizing Prime Minister Netanyahu as a war hero. He most certainly is,' Levin blared on X. 'Now, back to the quislings and Hamas/Iran mouthpieces in the media and their crackpot surrogates.' The International Criminal Court, meanwhile, has accused Netanyahu of war crimes and crimes against humanity in Gaza, issuing an arrest warrant for him and Israel's former defense minister Yoav Gallant last November. Israel has slammed those allegations, and the United States has backed Netanyahu by imposing sanctions on several of the court's judges in retaliation. As for Trump's self-annointing himself as a war hero, Kinzinger – who served in the Air National Guard and flew missions in Iraq and Afghanistan – pointed out that the president declined the opportunity to don the uniform when he had the chance. 'You can like what he's done. That's fine. I hope he gets a resolution in Ukraine,' Kinzinger said Tuesday night during a CNN interview. 'But to put himself on the same level of people that have actually gone out and served this country, not claimed bone spurs, is an offense to anybody who served.' Kinzinger was referencing the multiple deferments that Trump received during the Vietnam War, one of which was for having 'bone spurs' while the others were for attending college. 'And frankly, you just take somebody that served, calling themselves a war hero, even that would be inappropriate. For a guy that never served to say it, it's nuts,' he added. 'But somebody, they'll defend it, they'll find a way.' Beyond that, early in Trump's first campaign for president, he infamously mocked the late Sen. John McCain's service during the Vietnam War, which saw the former Navy pilot held captive and tortured for nearly six years in the notorious prison camp known as the 'Hanoi Hilton.' 'He's not a hero,' Trump exclaimed in 2015, sparking intense backlash at the time. 'He was a war hero because he was captured. I like people that weren't captured, OK? I hate to tell you that.' During his first term, Trump also came under fire after The Atlantic reported that during a 2018 trip to France, he scrapped plans to attend the commemoration for the 100th anniversary of World War I at the Aisne-Marne American Cemetery, fearing his hair would be mussed because of expected rain. 'Why should I go to that cemetery? It's filled with losers,' Trump reportedly said, adding later that Marines who died in battle were 'suckers.' While the president has repeatedly denied he said that, calling it 'disinformation' and 'fake news,' his then-chief of staff John Kelly – a former commander of U.S. Southern Command who lost his son in Afghanistan – insisted Trump did make those remarks.
The Independent
14 minutes ago
- The Independent
'South Park' targets federal takeover of Washington, DC, police in latest episode
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The Independent
14 minutes ago
- The Independent
Stephen Miller brands citizens protesting deployment of the National Guard in DC ‘elderly white hippies'
Top Trump aide Stephen Miller has attacked 'elderly white hippies' protesting against the deployment of the National Guard in Washington DC. On Wednesday (20 August), Miller, JD Vance and Pete Hegseth visited troops in Union Station, where they gave out Shake Shack burgers and congratulated the military members on 'doing a hell of a job'. As protesters heckled the group, Deputy Chief of Staff Miller addressed the troops and told them to ignore the 'elderly white hippies', who he said needed to 'go home'. 'They're not part of the city and never have been,' he said. There has been widespread discontent with Trump's unprecedented deployment of troops onto the streets of an American city.
