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U.S. Attorney for D.C. Jeanine Pirro says President Donald Trump’s promise to make Washington safer has delivered, with crime falling and arrests in the thousands.
While Pirro called the administration’s crackdown using the National Guard a “blueprint” for the rest of the nation, Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy warned that cities like New York and states like California could lose federal funding if they fail to take similar action on public safety measures.
“When the president said he was going to make D.C. safe and beautiful, he meant it. And the results speak for themselves,” Pirro said on “Fox & Friends” Tuesday alongside Duffy.
“When the president decided to go in and do what no other president has done, he did it effectively, and it’s working.”
Pirro said thousands of arrests have been made since the administration’s surge of force in the city, with over 500 guns taken off the street and homicides down by double digits.
The change comes after the president shifted his focus to the city in August, sending in the National Guard to combat crime.
Along with the troop deployment, Trump signed an executive order expanding anti-crime measures, including adding additional prosecutors to focus on violent and property crimes, and directing the Transportation secretary to inspect and improve D.C.’s transit services.
Duffy said that while the National Guard played a major role, the success of the project came from broader accountability efforts through stronger prosecution.
“You can arrest all the people you want, you can send in the National Guard and you can make the arrests, but if you don’t have prosecutors who are [going to] put these people behind bars, it doesn’t work,” Duffy said.
“Real prosecutors who actually enforce the law and put people in jail, that’s how this actually works,” he said.
Duffy also warned that New York City could face financial consequences if its leadership doesn’t take similar steps to reduce crime.
“We’ve had an escalation in violent crimes on the subways. And so, we’re working with the city,” he said, referring to New York City.
“We haven’t pulled money yet. We’re having a back-and-forth with them. But if they don’t continue to up their game and make the subway safer, we will pull the dollars.”
All three of the candidates running to be the next mayor of New York City have rejected the idea of the National Guard being activated to handle crime. The candidates argued that deploying troops would be unnecessary and largely for political purposes.
Pirro acknowledged that while the project in D.C. has been successful, she’s found one of the hardest parts of her job has been prosecuting younger offenders, something she claims is vital to stop the cycle of repeat crime in the capital.
“We have a revolving door of repeat offenders because the judges don’t take it seriously and because the laws are a disaster. The coddling of criminals can’t continue,” she said.
“The more we coddle them, the more we create a second, a third, a fourth victim of crime. It’s a nightmare.”
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