U.S. Attorney for the District of Columbia Jeanine Pirro forcefully defended the Trump administration’s decision to take control of the city’s police force on Tuesday, clashing with reporters over the scope of violent crime and the administration’s approach to public safety.
Speaking at a Department of Justice press conference, Pirro was asked about recent DOJ cuts to gun violence prevention programs. She dismissed the premise outright. “Oh, stop it,” she said. “We are putting all kinds of resources onto the street.”
This all happened one day after President Trump announced he would assume authority over the Metropolitan Police Department, with 800 National Guard troops deployed across Washington. This federal decision to stomp down on crime is polarizing to say the least, especially with D.C.’s crime rates trending downward.
When another reporter asked what had changed to warrant such an intervention, Pirro pointed to large posters beside her displaying the faces of recent homicide victims. “It’s never enough. This changed. This changed,” she said, gesturing toward the photos.
She then invoked the case of Eric Tarpinian-Jachym, a 21-year-old University of Massachusetts Amherst student and congressional intern for Rep. Ron Estes, R-Kan. On June 30, Tarpinian-Jachym was shot in a drive-by near the Washington Convention Center while on a late-night food run. Authorities say he was not the intended target. He died the following day at a hospital.
“You tell the mother of the intern who was shot going out for McDonald’s near the Washington Convention Center, ‘Oh, crime is down,’” Pirro said. “It’s never enough.”
Pirro also cited the August 3 beating of Edward Coristine, a former employee of the Department of Government Efficiency, who suffered a severe concussion and a broken nose in an attack by two teenagers now charged with unarmed carjacking. “You tell the kid who was just beat the hell and back… ‘Crime is down,’” she said. “No, that falls on deaf ears and my ears are deaf to that, and that’s why I fight the fight.”
Her remarks underscored the administration’s argument that individual acts of violence — especially those involving high-profile victims — demand a robust federal response, regardless of statistical trends.
Pirro’s combative tone shows just how important it is to Trump to federalize D.C.’s police force, something that will – at best – reignite longstanding tensions between the autonomy of a city living in the shadow of the White House.
