While we are targeting criminals and trying to remove criminals off of the streets, we also want to make DC safe and beautiful,” Leavitt said Tuesday.

President Donald Trump’s militarized crime crackdown in Washington, DC, is a clarifying political moment. It’s again exposed Democrats’ struggles to combat Trump’s hardline law-and-order rhetoric and splits within their party that the president exploited to win two elections.

President Donald Trump’s takeover of the D.C. police department and deployment of the National Guard has opened a new chapter in the district’s relationship with the federal government.