<div class="css-s99gbd StoryBodyCompanionColumn" data-testid="companionColumn-0"><div class="css-53u6y8"><p class="css-at9mc1 evys1bk0">President Trump said during a radio interview that he would join a patrol on the streets of Washington on Thursday night, going out alongside police officers and members of National Guard units who have been deployed to the city as part of his crackdown on the city.</p><p class="css-at9mc1 evys1bk0">It is not clear what time or where in the capital the president might go on his planned patrol, or what his presence would require in terms of logistics, and the White House did not immediately provide details. Even a short drive across town by the president’s armored motorcade is generally a tightly planned event; <a class="css-yywogo" href="https://www.nytimes.com/2020/06/01/us/politics/trump-st-johns-church-bible.html" title="">an open-air trip to the streets</a> would most likely require unusually high security.</p><p class="css-at9mc1 evys1bk0">“I’m going to be going out tonight, I think with the police, and with the military of course,” he said during an interview with Todd Starnes, a conservative talk radio host based in Tennessee.</p><p class="css-at9mc1 evys1bk0">“We’re going to do a job,” Mr. Trump added.</p><p class="css-at9mc1 evys1bk0">Federal law enforcement units, including <a class="css-yywogo" href="https://www.nytimes.com/2025/08/19/us/politics/tennessee-national-guard-dc-trump.html" title="">National Guard members from several states</a>, have come into the city since Mr. Trump last week declared a public safety emergency, allowing him to enlist the city’s police in a Justice Department-led effort to combat crime.</p></div><aside aria-label="companion column" class="css-ew4tgv"></aside></div><div data-testid="Dropzone-1"></div><div class="css-s99gbd StoryBodyCompanionColumn" data-testid="companionColumn-1"><div class="css-53u6y8"><p class="css-at9mc1 evys1bk0">They have been deployed to some of the city’s <a class="css-yywogo" href="https://www.nytimes.com/2025/08/15/us/dc-police-federal-night-scene.html" title="">popular nightlife districts</a>, and also to <a class="css-yywogo" href="https://www.nytimes.com/2025/08/19/us/politics/tourists-national-guard-washington.html" title="">the capital’s tourist areas</a>, including neighborhoods around the White House and Union Station.</p><p class="css-at9mc1 evys1bk0">The forced marriage between local and federal law enforcement officials has caused friction, as the federal officials focus not just on arresting violent criminals, but also devote considerable attention to immigration arrests and dismantling homeless encampments.</p><p class="css-at9mc1 evys1bk0">Mr. Trump’s planned excursion comes <a class="css-yywogo" href="https://www.nytimes.com/2025/08/20/us/politics/stephen-miller-dc-crime-crackdown.html" title="">a day after</a> Vice President JD Vance, Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth and Stephen Miller, the deputy White House chief of staff who is seen as the architect of the president’s domestic policy, visited National Guard troops posted to Union Station — and pledged even more of a crackdown. Their stop at a restaurant in the Beaux-Arts transit hub drew boos, epithets, and insults from protesters.</p><p class="css-at9mc1 evys1bk0">It is not clear what kind of reception Mr. Trump will get on Thursday night.</p><p class="css-at9mc1 evys1bk0">Five years ago, when Mr. Trump deployed the National Guard to help tamp down large-scale racial justice protests in Washington, D.C., law enforcement used a show of force — in the form of flash-bangs and <a class="css-yywogo" href="https://www.nytimes.com/2020/06/01/us/politics/trump-st-johns-church-bible.html" title="">tear gas — to disperse protesters</a> before Mr. Trump headed outside the White House gates. He then walked a short distance to pose for a photo with a Bible in front of a church across the street.</p><p class="css-at9mc1 evys1bk0">This time, the protests have been more diffuse. Mr. Trump’s 30-day takeover of local law enforcement has inspired a rash of demonstrations across Washington, including <a class="css-yywogo" href="https://www.nytimes.com/2025/08/11/us/politics/national-guard-dc-protests.html" title="">organized protests outside the White House</a> and impromptu outbursts of anger at federal officials on patrol — including one incident in which a resident faces felony charges for <a class="css-yywogo" href="https://www.nytimes.com/2025/08/13/us/politics/federal-agent-trump-sandwich-dc.html" title="">throwing a sandwich</a> at a federal agent.</p></div><aside aria-label="companion column" class="css-ew4tgv"></aside></div><div data-testid="Dropzone-3"></div><div class="css-s99gbd StoryBodyCompanionColumn" data-testid="companionColumn-2"><div class="css-53u6y8"><p class="css-at9mc1 evys1bk0">Mr. Trump has claimed that his takeover has produced miraculous results, dismissing his critics.</p><p class="css-at9mc1 evys1bk0">“I’ve straightened out crime in four days in D.C., and all they do is say ‘he’s a dictator,’” Mr. Trump complained on Mr. Starnes’s show.</p><p class="css-at9mc1 evys1bk0">“People were getting mugged all over the place,” he said, adding: “People are so happy, they’re going out to restaurants again.”</p><p class="css-at9mc1 evys1bk0">He did not present evidence for his claims. Local news media reports paint a different picture, showing that restaurant reservations have <a class="css-yywogo" href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/food/2025/08/19/dc-restaurants-business-down-police-crackdown/" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank" title="">dropped by nearly a third</a> since the enhanced federal law enforcement presence began, <a class="css-yywogo" href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/dc-md-va/2025/08/20/dc-poll-trump-crime-police/" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank" title="">and that residents</a> — even those upset about crime in the city — reject Mr. Trump’s takeover.</p><p class="css-at9mc1 evys1bk0">Crime in Washington spiked after the Covid-19 pandemic, hitting a peak in 2023. But since then, city officials say they have cleaned up much of the problem, pointing to <a class="css-yywogo" href="https://www.nytimes.com/2025/08/12/us/politics/trump-dc-crime-data-fact-check.html" title="">data that shows violent crime is at a 30-year low</a>. The city’s murder rate, while higher than it was 15 years ago, has also been dropping and is now at prepandemic levels.</p><p class="css-at9mc1 evys1bk0">But the U.S. attorney’s office in Washington, D.C., is <a class="css-yywogo" href="https://www.nytimes.com/2025/08/19/us/politics/dc-police-crime-data-investigation.html" title="">looking into whether</a> that data was manipulated. On his social media platform Monday, Mr. Trump made a more direct accusation, writing: “D.C. gave Fake Crime numbers in order to create a false illusion of safety.”</p></div><aside aria-label="companion column" class="css-ew4tgv"></aside></div>