Attorney General Pam Bondi reportedly announced Sunday that federal and local law enforcement officers arrested 68 people overnight in Washington, D.C., as part of President Trump’s sweeping effort to restore law and order in the nation’s capital.
“Over 300 arrests in D.C. — and counting: Just last night, our federal and DC law enforcement partners made 68 arrests and seized 15 illegal firearms,” Bondi wrote in a post on X. “Homicide suspects, drug traffickers, and more are being charged. I’ll continue to stand with you as we make DC safe again!”
The arrests are part of a broader federal crackdown launched after Trump last week announced that he would federalize the District’s police force and deploy the National Guard.
His decision followed months of elevated crime in Washington and growing concern that local officials were not taking sufficient action.
Administration officials framed the move as a decisive intervention to protect residents and restore order in the city. Stephen Miller, the White House deputy chief of staff, emphasized the broader symbolism of the effort in a post on X, noting that graffiti and other signs of urban disorder were being cleaned up. “Graffiti left untouched to scar public spaces is the visual declaration of a society’s surrender,” Miller said.
The federal push has met fierce resistance from Democrats, who have criticized Trump’s decision as heavy-handed and politically motivated. Senator Chris Murphy, Democrat of Connecticut, dismissed the law-enforcement operation as “just a stunt.”
“Donald Trump didn’t like the fact that the walls were closing in on him, that his own base was questioning why he wouldn’t release the Epstein files, why he was protecting very powerful people,” Murphy said in an appearance on NBC’s Meet the Press. “He didn’t want to talk anymore about the fact that our health care system is about to collapse because of the cuts that they have made, that premiums are going to go up by 75 percent on Americans.”
But Republicans and administration officials counter that the operation is a justified response to spiraling violence in the capital. They argue that Democratic leadership in major cities has allowed crime to surge unchecked, and that residents are left paying the price.
Bondi stressed that those targeted were not petty offenders but serious criminals who posed an ongoing danger. The arrests included individuals accused of homicide and drug trafficking, with firearms seizures highlighting the role of illegal weapons in violent crime.
A White House official told NewsNation that Saturday night’s law enforcement operations involved some 1,800 participants, although the National Guard “was not making arrests at this time.”
While Democrats depict the initiative as an attempt to distract from other political controversies, the administration insists the crackdown is about public safety, not politics.
Trump has repeatedly framed his moves in Washington as part of a larger national effort to reverse what he views as a culture of permissiveness in Democratic-run cities.
With more than 300 arrests already reported, the White House has signaled that it intends to continue pressing ahead.
The president’s allies say the early results underscore the scale of the problem — and the need for federal leadership to confront it.
[READ MORE: Trump Heads to Alaska Summit With Putin, Says Ukraine Will Decide Its Own Fate]
