The Justice Department slammed the D.C. Council for its “politically motivated demands” and “impotent theatrics” after its members sent letters to governors asking them to recall their National Guard troops from the nation’s capital.
The development comes as FBI Director Kash Patel told Fox News Digital this week that “homicides in D.C. are down an incredible 44% from last year” when President Donald Trump’s administration launched the Safe and Beautiful initiative in Washington, D.C., which increased the federal law enforcement presence and deployed hundreds of federal agents and National Guard troops to combat crime.
“I am not surprised that your recent letter to state governors regarding the National Guard feigns ignorance of the historic public safety strides made in our Nation’s capital since August 11, 2025,” Assistant Attorney General Colin McDonald wrote in a letter addressed to the D.C. Council. “I am surprised and saddened, however, that you would show such callousness — instead of compassion and care — toward your constituents, who now live in a city with far less violence and fear thanks to the National Guard and the D.C. Safe and Beautiful Task Force.”
“Let me be clear, your council has no power to demand that governors remove their brave men and women from serving in uniform in our Nation’s capital. Your politically-motivated letter is impotent theatrics not worth the paper it’s written on, and D.C. is a much safer place no matter what you say,” McDonald added. “Because you refuse to speak the truth about the life-preserving work of the Task Force, the truth will speak for itself.”
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The Justice Department said in a message on X that “This Department of Justice will not stand for these politically motivated demands.”
“We will continue standing with @POTUS and the Make D.C. Safe and Beautiful Task Force to deliver historic results for the community — and for visitors from across the country and around the world to enjoy,” it added.
Fox News Digital has reached out to representatives of D.C. Council members for comment.
The letters, co-signed by the D.C. Council members, were sent to the governors of Alabama, Alaska, Arkansas, Florida, Georgia, Hawaii, Idaho, Indiana, Louisiana, Mississippi, Montana, Nebraska, Nevada, North Carolina, Oklahoma, Puerto Rico, South Carolina, Tennessee, West Virginia and Wyoming in late July, according to the office of Councilmember At-Large Robert White.
Each letter opened the same, saying, “We write as elected officials representing the District of Columbia to respectfully request that you withdraw all troops currently deployed to the District by September 1, 2026.”
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“There are approximately 5,148 Guard personnel currently deployed to the District under the premise that an extraordinary military presence was necessary to address public safety. Yet analysis of the deployment has found only a modest decrease in property crime and no measurable reduction in violent crime attributable to the Guard’s presence since August 2025,” the letters continue.
“The deployment has, however, cost American taxpayers more than $3 million per day, according to the nonpartisan Congressional Budget Office. Continuing this deployment despite the absence of a demonstrated violent-crime benefit would misuse both taxpayer dollars — in the billions, if maintained for years at its expanded scale — and the service of the Guard member themselves,” the letters add, claiming that at a time where families in each of the states “and across the country are struggling with the cost of groceries, housing, health care, and other necessities, wasting those resources on an ineffective, indefinite deployment that neither District residents nor officials asked for is disrespectful to American taxpayers.”
The letters conclude by saying that: “We recognize that the America 250 events present significant public safety and logistical challenges for the District and have required coordination across multiple jurisdictions. We are grateful to the Guard members who have been present to support the nation’s capital during this exceptionally busy period. Once the principal event-related needs conclude on September 1, 2026, we respectfully ask that they be permitted to return home to their families, careers and communities, rather than remain indefinitely assigned to a costly mission that has not demonstrated a measurable impact on violent crime.”
However, McDonald said in his letter “Thanks to courageous and steadfast support from National Guard units, Task Force members have conducted thousands of arrests, located lost and missing children, and taken substantial numbers of illegal firearms off the city’s streets” and that the National Guard “has personally intervened in numerous assaults and provided medical aid on innumerable occasions, including repeatedly administering life-saving NARCAN to citizens in peril.”
“While you slander these men and women as ‘outside military forces,’ I refer to them as true American heroes,” he also said. “You should withdraw your letters and dedicate your remaining time in public service to correcting D.C.’s laws to ensure criminals are punished and the public is protected — not the other way around.”
Fox News Digital’s Michael Sinkewicz contributed to this report.
