Former Washington, D.C., homicide detective and defense attorney Ted Williams has taken to Fox News to reject President Donald Trump’s contention that “crime is out of control” in the nation’s capital.
Over the weekend, Trump announced that he would be staging a press conference on Monday to address the matter, saying of the city: “It has become one of the most dangerous cities anywhere in the World. It will soon be one of the safest!!!”
He subsequently insisted that D.C.’s homeless citizens “move out, IMMEDIATELY,” adding: “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.”
It was then reported that the president is sending 120 FBI agents on overnight shifts to help local law enforcement battle carjackings and other violent crime in D.C.
His rhetoric has escalated since former DOGE employee Edward Coristine, also known as “Big Balls,” was beaten up by muggers eight days ago when he refused to give up his car during an attempted hijacking.
Asked by Fox anchor Jon Scott about D.C. Mayor Muriel Bowser’s comment that violent crime is down 61 percent in the district from two years ago, Williams said: “I have to agree with the mayor here… Yes, there is crime, and there will always be crimes in every major metropolitan city in this country.
“What I really found troubling and, I gotta tell you, as a lawyer I found it troubling… is that the President of the United States would say that crime is out of control.
“I take exception to that. Crime is not out of control in the District of Columbia. Yes, you do have some juveniles here that are out of control and those juveniles need to be addressed and arrested.”
But, he continued: “I think that even the Metropolitan Police Department is happy that the president has married up the federal agencies that help to try to combat crime in the District of Columbia.”
Scott went on to present Williams with official data suggesting that juvenile offenders were the real problem, given that young people have been involved in half of the attempted carjackings this year and that 2,000 teens have been arrested in D.C. over the last two years.
“In any major metropolitan city you are going to have, unfortunately, juveniles committing crimes,” he responded.
The ex-cop invoked the attack on Coristine as the likely motivation for Trump’s new hard-line stance and added: “I would like to ask Mr Trump: ‘Where were you last month when a three-year-old child, Honesty Cheadle, was shot and killed as the result of a crime in the District of Columbia?’ I didn’t hear Mr Trump speaking out then.
“I want Mr Trump to do something for the district. Continue to have the federal officers partner with the district officers to try to bring down crime. But don’t use this as a pretext to actually eradicate home rule… That seems to be what Mr Trump is interested in.”
