WASHINGTON: President Donald Trump on Thursday (Aug 21) visited police and troops he has deployed in the US capital in what he calls a crackdown on crime, saying they were going to “stay here for a while”.
Trump ordered hundreds of members of the Guard, a reserve force, to deploy in Washington last week vowing to “take our capital back”, despite protests by some residents and statistics showing violent offenses falling.
“We’re going to make it safe, and we’re going to then go on to other places, but we’re going to stay here for a while. We want to make this absolutely perfect,” he said outside a US Park Police facility in Washington.
The 79-year-old Republican was surrounded by law enforcement from various local and federal agencies as well as National Guard troops.
Earlier on Thursday he suggested he would go on patrol with police and the military, but instead he made a short speech and gave out pizzas and hamburgers.
“Everybody feels safe,” Trump said, adding that he plans to get the capital “fixed up physically”.
“One of the things we’re going to be redoing is your parks. I’m very good at grass, because I have a lot of golf courses all over the place. I know more about grass than any human being,” he added.
