Russia and Ukraine hold fast to their demands ahead of a planned Putin-Trump summit
The maximalist demands reflect Putin's determination to reach the goals he set when he launched the full-scale invasion of Ukraine on Feb. 24, 2022.
Putin sees a possible meeting with Trump as a chance to negotiate a broad deal that would not only cement Russia's territorial gains but also keep Ukraine from joining NATO and hosting any Western troops, allowing Moscow to gradually pull the country back into its orbit.
The Kremlin leader believes time is on his side as the exhausted and outgunned Ukrainian forces are struggling to stem Russian advances in many sectors of the over 1,000-kilometer front line while swarms of Russian missiles and drones batter Ukrainian cities.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy also has stood firm in his positions, agreeing to a ceasefire proposed by Trump while reaffirming the country's refusal to abandon seeking NATO membership and rejecting acknowledgment of Russia's annexation of any of its regions.
A look at Russian and Ukrainian visions of a peace deal and how a Putin-Trump summit could evolve:
Russia's position
In a memorandum presented at talks in Istanbul in June, Russia offered Ukraine two options for establishing a 30-day ceasefire. One demanded Ukraine withdraw its forces from Donetsk, Luhansk, Zaporizhzhia and Kherson -- the four regions Moscow illegally annexed in September 2022 but never fully captured.
As an alternate condition for a ceasefire, Russia made a "package proposal" for Ukraine to halt mobilization efforts, freeze Western arms deliveries and ban any third-country forces on its soil. Moscow also suggested Ukraine end martial law and hold elections, after which the countries could sign a comprehensive peace treaty.
Once there's a truce, Moscow wants a deal to include the "international legal recognition" of its annexations of Ukraine's Crimean Peninsula in 2014 and the four regions in 2022.
Russia says a peace treaty should have Ukraine declare its neutral status between Russia and the West, abandon its bid to join NATO, limit the size of its armed forces and recognize Russian as an official language on par with Ukrainian -- conditions reflecting Putin's earliest goals.
It also demands Ukraine ban the "glorification and propaganda of Nazism and neo-Nazism" and dissolve nationalist groups. Since the war began, Putin has falsely alleged that neo-Nazi groups were shaping Ukrainian politics under Zelenskyy, who is Jewish. They were fiercely dismissed by Kyiv and its Western allies.
In Russia's view, a comprehensive peace treaty should see both countries lift all sanctions and restrictions, abandon any claims to compensation for wartime damage, resume trade and communications, and reestablish diplomatic ties.
Asked Thursday whether Moscow has signaled any willingness to compromise to make a meeting with Trump possible, Putin's foreign affairs adviser Yuri Ushakov responded that there haven't been any shifts in the Russian position.
Ukraine's position
The memorandum that Ukraine presented to Moscow in Istanbul emphasized the need for a full and unconditional 30-day ceasefire to set stage for peace negotiations.
It reaffirmed Ukraine's consistent rejection of Russian demands for neutral status as an attack on its sovereignty, declaring it is free to choose its alliances and adding that its NATO membership will depend on consensus with the alliance.
It emphasized Kyiv's rejection of any restrictions on the size and other parameters of its armed forces, as well as curbs on the presence of foreign troops on its soil.
Ukraine's memorandum also opposed recognizing any Russian territorial gains, while describing the current line of contact as a starting point in negotiations.
The document noted the need for international security guarantees to ensure the implementation of peace agreements and prevent further aggression.
Kyiv's peace proposal also demanded the return of all deported and illegally displaced children and a total prisoner exchange.
It held the door open to gradual lifting of some of the sanctions against Russia if it abides by the agreement.
Trump's positions
Trump has often spoken admiringly of Putin and even echoed his talking points on the war. He had a harsh confrontation with Zelenskyy in the Oval Office on Feb. 28, but later warmed his tone. As Putin resisted a ceasefire and continued his aerial bombardments, Trump showed exasperation with the Kremlin leader, threatening Moscow with new sanctions.
Although Trump expressed disappointment with Putin, his agreement to meet him without Zelenskyy at the table raised worries in Ukraine and its European allies, who fear it could allow the Russian to get Trump on his side and strong-arm Ukraine into concessions.
Trump said without giving details that "there'll be some swapping of territories, to the betterment of both" Russia and Ukraine as part of any peace deal that he will discuss with Putin when they meet Friday.
Putin repeatedly warned Ukraine will face tougher conditions for peace if it doesn't accept Moscow's demands as Russian troops forge into other regions to build what he described as a "buffer zone." Some observers suggested Russia could trade those recent gains for the territories of the four annexed by Moscow still under Ukrainian control.
"That is potentially a situation that gives Putin a tremendous amount of leeway as long as he can use that leverage to force the Ukrainians into a deal that they may not like and to sideline the Europeans effectively," Sam Greene of King's College London said. "The question is, will Trump sign up to that and will he actually have the leverage to force the Ukrainians and the Europeans to accept it?"
Putin could accept a temporary truce to win Trump's sympathy as he seeks to achieve broader goals, Greene said.
"He could accept a ceasefire so long as it's one that leaves him in control, in which there's no real deterrence against renewed aggression somewhere down the line," he said. "He understands that his only route to getting there runs via Trump."
In a possible indication he thinks a ceasefire or peace deal could be close, Putin called the leaders of China, India, South Africa and several ex-Soviet nations in an apparent effort to inform these allies about prospective agreements.
Tatiana Stanovaya of the Carnegie Russia and Eurasia Center argued Putin wouldn't budge on his goals.
"However these conditions are worded, they amount to the same demand: Ukraine stops resisting, the West halts arms supplies, and Kyiv accepts Russia's terms, which effectively amount to a de facto capitulation," she posted on X. "The Russian side can frame this in a dozen different ways, creating the impression that Moscow is open to concessions and serious negotiation. It has been doing so for some time, but the core position remains unchanged: Russia wants Kyiv to surrender."
She predicted Putin might agree to meet Zelenskyy but noted the Kremlin leader would only accept such a meeting "if there is a prearranged agenda and predetermined outcomes, which remains difficult to imagine."
"The likely scenario is that this peace effort will fail once again," she said. "This would be a negative outcome for Ukraine, but it would not deliver Ukraine to Putin on a plate either, at least not in the way he wants it. The conflict, alternating between open warfare and periods of simmering tension, appears likely to persist for the foreseeable future." (AP)
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The Mainichi
2 hours ago
- The Mainichi
Australia will recognize a Palestinian state, Prime Minister Albanese says
WELLINGTON, New Zealand (AP) -- Australia will recognize a Palestinian state, Prime Minister Anthony Albanese said Monday, joining the leaders of France, Britain and Canada in signaling they would do so. His remarks followed weeks of urging from within his Cabinet and from many in Australia to recognize a Palestinian state and amid growing criticism from officials in his government over suffering in Gaza, which Albanese on Monday referred to as a "humanitarian catastrophe." Australia's government has also criticized plans announced in recent days by Israeli leader Benjamin Netanyahu for a sweeping new military offensive in Gaza. Albanese says conditions must be met for Palestine recognition Albanese told reporters after a Cabinet meeting Monday that Australia's decision to recognize a Palestinian state will be formalized at the United Nations General Assembly in September. The acknowledgement was "predicated on commitments Australia has received from the Palestinian Authority," Albanese said. Those commitments included no role for Hamas in a Palestinian government, demilitarization of Gaza and the holding of elections, he said. "A two-state solution is humanity's best hope to break the cycle of violence in the Middle East and to bring an end to the conflict, suffering and starvation in Gaza," Albanese said. "The situation in Gaza has gone beyond the world's worst fears," he said. "The Israeli government continues to defy international law and deny sufficient aid, food and water to desperate people, including children." Netanyahu rebuked Australia before the announcement Ahead of Albanese's announcement, Netanyahu on Sunday criticized Australia and other European countries that have moved to recognize a Palestinian state. "To have European countries and Australia march into that rabbit hole ... this canard, is disappointing and I think it's actually shameful," the Israeli leader said. Australia has designated Hamas a terrorist entity and Albanese repeated Monday his government's calls for the group to return Israeli hostages held since Oct. 7, 2023. The Australian leader last week spoke to Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas, whose authority administers parts of the occupied West Bank, supports a two-state solution and cooperates with Israel on security matters. Abbas has agreed to conditions with Western leaders, including Albanese, as they prepared to recognize a Palestinian state. "This is an opportunity to deliver self-determination for the people of Palestine in a way that isolates Hamas, disarms it and drives it out of the region once and for all," Albanese said. He added that Hamas did not support a two-state solution. Recognition is growing, but is largely symbolic without the U.S. Nearly 150 of the 193 members of the United Nations have already recognized Palestinian statehood, most of them decades ago. The United States and other Western powers have held off, saying Palestinian statehood should be part of a final agreement resolving the decades-old Middle East conflict. Recognition announcements are largely symbolic and are rejected by Israel, and by the United States -- the only country with any real leverage over Netanyahu. Israel's leader said this month that he would not accept Palestinian Authority involvement in a government for Palestine. A two-state solution would see a state of Palestine created alongside Israel in most or all of the occupied West Bank, the war-ravaged Gaza Strip and annexed east Jerusalem, territories Israel seized in the 1967 Mideast war that the Palestinians want for their state. Albanese dismissed suggestions Monday that the move was solely symbolic. "This is a practical contribution towards building momentum," he said. "This is not Australia acting alone." Albanese had discussed Australia's decision with the leaders of Britain, France, New Zealand and Japan, he said. He also had a "long discussion" with Netanyahu this month, he added. In neighboring New Zealand, Foreign Minister Winston Peters said Monday his government "will carefully weigh up its position" on recognizing a Palestinian state before making a formal decision in September. "New Zealand has been clear for some time that our recognition of a Palestinian state is a matter of when, not if," Peters said in a statement. Australian Jewish and Palestinian groups criticized the move After Albanese's announcement Monday, Israel's envoy to Australia said the move undermined Israel's security. "By recognising a Palestinian state now, Australia elevates the position of Hamas, a group it acknowledges as a terrorist organisation," Amir Maimon posted to X. "This commitment removes any incentive or diplomatic pressure for the Palestinians to do the things that have always stood in the way of ending the conflict," spokesperson for the Executive Council of the Australian Jewry Alex Ryvchin said in a statement. Meanwhile, President of the Australia Palestine Advocacy Network Nasser Mashni decried Albanese's recognition as too late and "completely meaningless" while the country continues to trade with Israel. He told reporters in Melbourne on Monday that the move would do nothing to end the "ongoing genocide in Gaza which has been live streamed for the entire world for two years."
Japan Times
2 hours ago
- Japan Times
American Nazis: The Aryan Freedom Network is riding high in Trump era
Wearing cargo shorts, flip-flops and a baseball cap shading his eyes from the sun, Dalton Henry Stout blends in easily in rural America. Except for the insignia on his hat. It bears the skull and crossbones of the infamous "Death's Head' SS units that oversaw Nazi Germany's concentration camps — and the initials "AFN,' short for Aryan Freedom Network, the neo-Nazi group Stout leads with his partner. From a modest ranch house in Texas, the couple oversee a network they say has been turbocharged by President Donald Trump's return to the White House. They point to Trump's rhetoric — his attacks on diversity initiatives, his hard-line stance on immigration and his invocation of "Western values' — as driving a surge in interest and recruitment. Trump "awakened a lot of people to the issues we've been raising for years,' Stout said. "He's the best thing that's happened to us.' While the Aryan Freedom Network and other neo-Nazi groups remain on the outermost edges of American politics, broadly regarded as toxic by conservatives and mainstream America, they are increasingly at the center of far-right public demonstrations and acts of violence, according to interviews with a dozen members of extremist groups, nine experts on political extremism and a review of data on far-right violence. Several trends have converged since Trump's re-election. Trump's rhetoric has galvanized a new wave of far-right activists, fueling growth in white supremacist ranks. Trump's pardons of January 6 rioters and a shift in federal law enforcement's focus toward immigration have also led many on the far right to believe that federal investigations into white nationalists are no longer a priority. And the boundaries of the far right itself are shifting. Ideas once confined to fringe groups like the Proud Boys — who helped lead the January 6 siege — are now more visible in Republican politics, from election denialism to rhetoric portraying immigrants as "invaders.' Trump's public support and pardons for far-right figures helped normalize those views, the researchers said. As the Make America Great Again movement has come to define the party's identity, the line separating the far right from mainstream conservatism has grown increasingly difficult to draw, they added. What was once extreme now blends more easily into the broader far-right, not because those extreme groups have changed, but because the terrain around them has, said Heidi Beirich, co-founder of the Global Project Against Hate and Extremism, a nonprofit that tracks hate speech and extremism. "A Proud Boy doesn't even seem that scary anymore because of the normalization process,' she said. That shift has coincided with a surge in white nationalist activity. White extremists are committing a growing proportion of U.S. political violence, according to the Armed Conflict Location & Event Data project, a nonprofit research outfit that tracks global conflicts. In 2020, such groups were linked to 13% of all U.S. extremist-related demonstrations and acts of political violence, or 57 of the events ACLED tracked. By 2024, they accounted for nearly 80%, or 154 events. Trump has denied that he supports white extremism, and the White House rejects the notion that his rhetoric promotes racism. "President Trump is a president for all Americans and hate has no place in our country,' White House spokesperson Harrison Fields said in response to questions for this story. "President Trump is focused on uniting our country, improving our economy, securing our borders, and establishing peace across the globe.' Fields also pointed to a significant rise in support for Trump among Black voters. In last year's election, his share of the Black vote nearly doubled from 2020 to about 15%. Trump has batted away accusations of racism. At a campaign rally last year, he declared, "I'm not a Nazi. I'm the opposite of a Nazi.' A few months earlier, he told an interviewer that he can't be racist because he has "so many Black friends." Even as he has made inroads with non-white voters, Trump has consistently drawn support from white nationalist and extremist groups while using racially divisive rhetoric. He promoted the false claim that Barack Obama, the nation's first Black president, was not born in the U.S. In his 2024 campaign, he suggested immigrants commit violent crimes because "it's in their genes,' a remark condemned by many as racist. Stout said his group opposes violence. Yet the Aryan Freedom Network openly advocates preparing for a "Racial Holy War.' It promotes white superiority ideology, seeks to unify elements of the broader white nationalist movement and actively recruits former members of other extremist groups. Stout wears a shirt denoting the white nationalists' book The Turner Diaries on May 5. | REUTERS The Trump administration has scaled back efforts to counter domestic extremism, redirecting resources toward immigration enforcement and citing the southern border as the top security threat. The Federal Bureau of Investigation has reduced staffing in its Domestic Terrorism Operations Section. The Department of Homeland Security has cut personnel in its violence prevention office. Some specialists in domestic terrorism say these moves could embolden extremists by weakening U.S. capacity to detect and disrupt threats. The DHS and FBI have defended the cuts, saying they remain committed to fighting domestic terrorism. The FBI said in a statement it allocates resources based on threat analysis and "the investigative needs of the Bureau,' and that it remains committed to investigating domestic terrorism. 'Racist royalty' In his first interview with any news organization, Stout met journalists in April at a restaurant in Hochatown, Oklahoma, a quiet town known for its hiking and fishing about an hour's drive north of their Texas home. He was joined by his partner, who goes by the name Daisy Barr. Stout says AFN is focused on staying within the law. "We got to watch our Ps and Qs,' he said. Then his tone turned apocalyptic: "And when the day comes, that will be the day — that's when violence will solve everything.' While he offered no timeline, researchers who study domestic extremism say the comment reflects a strategy among some far-right groups: operate within the law while openly predicting a moment of upheaval. The Aryan Freedom Network first drew national attention in 2021 after organizing a "White Unity' conference in Longview, Texas. By the following year, it was distributing flyers in cities across the country. One in Texas featured racist caricatures of Black Americans — one swinging from a street lamp amid rubble and an overturned car — alongside the caption: "At the current rate of decline what will America's major cities look like in ten years?' AFN also began staging protests, often targeting drag events and LGBTQ+ gatherings. Stout says the demonstrations were designed to attract recruits. Its conferences and annual "Aryan Fests' have become networking hubs for the far right, drawing attendees from groups such as the Ku Klux Klan and other white nationalist organizations, according to two individuals affiliated with those movements. Reuters was unable to independently verify the claim. The pseudoscientific notion of a superior white Aryan race — essentially Germanic — was a core tenet of Hitler's Nazi regime. AFN gatherings brim with Nazi memes: Swastikas are ritually set ablaze and chants of "white power' echo through the woods. AFN's website pays specific tribute to violent white supremacist groups of the past, including The Order, whose members killed a Jewish radio host in 1984. Two key members responsible for the killing were sentenced to lengthy prison terms and are now deceased. Stout's beliefs are rooted in the Christian Identity movement, which claims that white Europeans, not Jews, are the true Israelites of biblical scripture and therefore God's chosen people. Stout and Barr also claim that Black Americans, under Jewish influence, are leading a Communist revolution — an ideology that fuses racial supremacy with far-right conspiracy theories. Stout, 34, and Barr, 48, were born into self-avowed white supremacist families with deep ties to the Ku Klux Klan, infamous for its white robes, burning crosses and long history of racist violence, including decades of lynchings and terrorist campaigns against Black Americans. As a child, Stout said he attended Klan ceremonies and white nationalist youth camps. He recalls reading translations of SS training manuals from Nazi-era Germany. And while other girls were playing video games, Barr said she was wrapping torches in burlap strips, for secret KKK cross-burning ceremonies. Though they now identify as American Nazis, their ideology is anchored in the KKK and other white extremist groups. Their families are well known to historians of the movement. Stout's father, George Stout, was a "grand dragon' in the White Knights of Texas, a KKK offshoot. He declined to comment for this story. Barr's late father was a KKK "grand wizard' from Indiana who was sentenced to seven years in prison for holding two journalists at gunpoint. AFN requires members to use aliases; she chose "Daisy Barr' after the name of a female Klan leader of the 1920s who sold Klan robes and died in a car crash. One person familiar with the couple described their 2020 marriage as a union of "racist royalty.' They filed for divorce two years later, but Stout said the split was in name only — a legal move to shield their assets in case they faced civil rights lawsuits like those that once bankrupted the Klan and Aryan Nations, a neo-Nazi group held liable in a 1999 civil suit for inciting violence. Stout and Barr declined to share membership numbers but said AFN now has nearly twice as many chapters as the 23 it claimed in early 2023. Trump "awakened a lot of people to the issues we've been raising for years,' Stout said. "He's the best thing that's happened to us.' | REUTERS The Terrorism Research and Analysis Consortium, a private research group that monitors extremist movements, estimates AFN's members have grown to between 1,000 and 1,500. "We collect and record every event of theirs,' said TRAC researcher Muskan Sangwan. Some of the earliest chapters, including those in Texas, likely began with around 100 members each, Sangwan said, suggesting the group may have had roughly 200 members in its initial stages. Chris Magyarics, a senior researcher at the Anti-Defamation League, a Jewish advocacy organization that monitors antisemitic harassment, said he was skeptical AFN was so big but said he had no independent data on its size. "The previous largest neo-Nazi group only had a couple of hundred,' he said, referring to the National Socialist Movement, which has been in steady decline. Despite the uncertainty over its numbers, AFN is on the radar screens of independent researchers. Jon Lewis, a research fellow specializing in domestic extremism at George Washington University's Program on Extremism, said the group has been "really popular' among far-right "accelerationists,' a term used by white supremacists who advocate violence to hasten a race war. Stout said his group has benefited from the decline of the Proud Boys following the Capitol attack. Once prominent for street clashes during the Trump administration, the Proud Boys have faced legal setbacks and public scrutiny since many of its members were convicted — and later pardoned by Trump — for their roles in the January 6 Capitol riots. The group describes its ideology as "Western chauvinism.' Critics say the group uses the term "Western' rather than "white' to veil its racism, a charge the Proud Boys' defenders deny. Stout described groups like the Proud Boys as "civic nationalists' — movements that draw in followers with patriotic rhetoric, then serve as stepping stones toward more overtly racist organizations like AFN or the Klan. "A lot of newbies, new people to the movement, join that type of movement before they join us,' Stout said. Weapons and race war Although Stout said the Aryan Freedom Network rejects violence, firearms and tactical training remain central to its identity and feature prominently in its gatherings and recruitment efforts, according to a review of federal court records. One former member, Andrew Munsinger, built and traded semi-automatic AR-15 rifles and other weapons, using a machine shop to fabricate untraceable parts, according to an FBI affidavit filed in federal court. He boasted to other AFN members of stockpiling ammunition and constructing explosive devices, and claimed to have pointed a shotgun at a sleeping prosecutor, the affidavit said. Munsinger, who went by the alias "Thor,' was arrested last year in Minneapolis on federal charges of illegally possessing firearms. As a convicted felon, he was barred under federal law from owning weapons. He attended at least five AFN events in one year, the FBI said. Agents described him as an adherent of accelerationism, which seeks to provoke a race war through violence. AFN is "an umbrella organization for other white-supremacist organizations,' the affidavit said. Documents relating to Munsinger's case, including testimony from an FBI informant who infiltrated the group, offer a glimpse inside its operations: firearms training across several states, encrypted communications focused on weapons, a recruitment event at a lakeside bar in Ohio, and new members building timber swastikas in a ritualistic initiation. Stout said he disavowed Munsinger, who was convicted by a federal jury in April of illegally possessing firearms and ammunition, as well as trafficking marijuana. He is awaiting sentencing. Munsinger and his attorney did not respond to requests for comment. Stout said his network has links to the Klan, which has splintered and shrunk dramatically since its peak a century ago. In May, a modern-day Klan ceremony was held in a clearing deep within the woods on private land in northeastern Kentucky. William Bader, leader of the Trinity Knights, a small Klan faction, donned a purple silk robe and conical hood as he presided over the swearing in of about half a dozen heavily tattooed new members. In an interview, Bader said Trump has energized the white nationalist movement. "White people,' he said, "are finally seeing something going their way for once.' Bader said he had previously attended an AFN event without elaborating. Steve Bowers, another Klan official at the ceremony, which didn't involve AFN, said he isn't a fan of Trump because of his administration's close ties with Israel. But he said many white nationalists are fully behind the president. "People think he's going to save the white race in America,' said Bowers, dressed in a white KKK robe and hood, decorated with two blood crosses on the chest. The Klan once claimed as many as 6 million members in the 1920s. It had dwindled to an estimated 2,000 to 3,000 members across 72 chapters by 2015, according to the Southern Poverty Law Center, a nonprofit that tracks extremist groups. More recent figures are unavailable, a research analyst at the center said. AFN has adopted certain tactics and rituals of the Klan, including widespread distribution of racist flyers. AFN's flyers have appeared in multiple cities and towns, from Florida to Washington state, according to police reports. Stout and Barr said they view them as a recruitment tool. Police in West Bend, Wisconsin, said hundreds of flyers targeting immigrants were distributed in May. One flyer found in the Wisconsin village of Mukwonago read, "Tired of being discriminated against because you're white? Join.' Stout said members are instructed to distribute flyers at night — what he calls "night rides,' echoing the Klan's term for its historic terrorism campaigns against Black people. In another echo of the Klan, its signature cross burnings, swastikas are set alight at AFN gatherings. In an AFN video posted online, Stout stands on the bed of a pickup truck, masked and flanked by armed guards, arm raised in a Nazi salute. "White power!' he shouts in a hoarse Texas drawl, wearing a chest rig for rifle magazines. His audience returns the Nazi salute. "White Power!' they call out. At the restaurant in Oklahoma, asked why he believes his group is gaining momentum, Stout offered a simple explanation. "Our side won the election,' he said.
The Mainichi
6 hours ago
- The Mainichi
Trump is promising new steps to tackle homelessness and crime in Washington
WASHINGTON (AP) -- President Donald Trump is promising new steps to tackle homelessness and crime in Washington, prompting the city's mayor to voice concerns about the potential use of the National Guard to patrol the streets in the nation's capital. Trump wrote in a social media post that he planned a White House news conference at 10 a.m. Monday to discuss his plans to make the District of Columbia "safer and more beautiful than it ever was before." "The Homeless have to move out, IMMEDIATELY," Trump wrote Sunday. "We will give you places to stay, but FAR from the Capital. The Criminals, you don't have to move out. We're going to put you in jail where you belong." Last week the Republican president directed federal law enforcement agencies to increase their presence in Washington for seven days, with the option "to extend as needed." On Friday night, federal agencies including the Secret Service, the FBI and the U.S. Marshals Service assigned more than 120 officers and agents to assist in Washington. Trump said last week that he was considering ways for the federal government to seize control of Washington, asserting that crime was "ridiculous" and the city was "unsafe," after the recent assault of a high-profile member of the Department of Government Efficiency. The moves Trump said he was considering included bringing in the D.C. National Guard. Mayor Muriel Bowser questioned the effectiveness of using the Guard to enforce city laws and said the federal government could be far more helpful by funding more prosecutors or filling the 15 vacancies on the D.C. Superior Court, some of which have been open for years. Bowser cannot activate the National Guard herself, but she can submit a request to the Pentagon. "I just think that's not the most efficient use of our Guard," she said Sunday on MSNBC's "The Weekend," acknowledging it is "the president's call about how to deploy the Guard." Bowser was making her first public comments since Trump started posting about crime in Washington last week. She noted that violent crime in Washington has decreased since a rise in 2023. Trump's weekend posts depicted the district as "one of the most dangerous cities anywhere in the World." For Bowser, "Any comparison to a war-torn country is hyperbolic and false." Police statistics show homicides, robberies and burglaries are all down this year when compared with this time in 2024. Overall violent crime is down 26% compared with this time a year ago. Trump offered no details in Truth Social posts over the weekend about possible new actions to address crime levels that he argues are dangerous for citizens, tourists and workers alike. The White House declined to offer additional details about Monday's announcement. The police department and the mayor's office did not respond to questions about what Trump might do next. The president criticized the district as full of "tents, squalor, filth, and Crime," and he seems to have been set off by the attack on Edward Coristine, among the most visible figures of the bureaucracy-cutting effort known as DOGE. Police arrested two 15-year-olds in the attempted carjacking and said they were looking for others. "This has to be the best run place in the country, not the worst run place in the country," Trump said Wednesday. The president called Bowser "a good person who has tried, but she has been given many chances." Trump has repeatedly suggested that the rule of Washington could be returned to federal authorities. Doing so would require a repeal of the Home Rule Act of 1973 in Congress, a step Trump said lawyers are examining. It could face steep pushback. Bowser acknowledged that the law allows the president to take more control over the city's police, but only if certain conditions are met. "None of those conditions exist in our city right now," she said. "We are not experiencing a spike in crime. In fact, we're watching our crime numbers go down."
