President Donald Trump told Thursday's "The Todd Starnes Show" that he will patrol the streets of Washington, D.C., under the cover of night alongside police and National Guard personnel.
"I'm going out tonight — I'm going to keep it a secret," Trump told radio host Todd Starnes, who is also a host on Newsmax. "I'm going out with the police and with the military. The National Guard has done a fantastic job."
The announcement comes amid a broader effort by the Trump administration to assert federal authority over D.C. law enforcement. Earlier this month, federal agents and the National Guard were deployed in the capital following the controversial federal takeover of the D.C. police force. While a judge has limited Trump's ability to install his own staff in local law enforcement, the federal presence remains substantial.
White House deputy press secretary Harrison Fields, reacting minutes later on Newsmax's "Newsline," said the president's plan to go on patrol was "pretty big news" and emphasized that security details would guide the operation.
"More details will be forthcoming," Fields told host Bianca de la Garza. "Of course, any movement of the president is going to have a security element to it that I don't want to get ahead of the people handling these plans."
He added that Vice President JD Vance's Wednesday visit to Union Station underscored the turnaround in safety under Trump's federal takeover of D.C., saying no vice president "would have ever dared" go there before.
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Eric Mack ✉
Eric Mack has been a writer and editor at Newsmax since 2016. He is a 1998 Syracuse University journalism graduate and a New York Press Association award-winning writer.