Trump touts perceived wins while praising ‘healthy, attractive people’ on DC federal patrol photo op

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President Donald Trump has touted his perceived wins while praising “healthy, attractive people” during a photo op to ahead of his expected patrol with D.C. police and federal forces.

Trump met with local and federal law enforcement at the U.S. Park Police facility in Anacostia Thursday evening to thank them for their efforts in his crime crackdown.

There were pizzas from a local restaurant and burgers cooked at the White House for the authorities.

He complimented the roughly 300 men and women in the crowd as “healthy” and “attractive.”

There were members of the Metropolitan Police Department, National Guard, FBI, Homeland Security Investigations, Drug Enforcement Administration and other federal agencies in attendance.

President Donald Trump has touted his perceived wins while praising ‘healthy, attractive people’ during a photo op to kick off his patrol with D.C. police and federal forces (AFP via Getty Images)

The president also praised his own administration, telling the crowd, “ We’ve done a lot of good work, including the biggest tax cuts that you’ve ever had.”

Trump also talked about his plans to build a new ballroom in the White House, saying, “ They’ve been after a ballroom for 150 years, but they never had a real estate guy as a president.”

“ We had a country that was a dead country in many ways. I went to Saudi Arabia, I went to Qatar, I went to UAE. We came back with $5.1 trillion of investment in this country. And we’re over 17 trillion,” the president added.

While the Trump administration has gotten multiple pledges from companies, such as Apple and AI chipmaker NVIDIA, and foreign countries, including Japan and South Korea, it remains to be seen if these entities will follow through on the investments they committed to.

Additionally, Reuters found the list of investments the White House has touted on its website includes money that originated under former President Joe Biden or was routine spending that had been repackaged.

During his speech, Trump said crime is “way down,” adding, “I feel very safe now and I’m hearing people are very safe.”

The Trump administration announced Tuesday there have been 465 arrests in D.C. since the start of the crackdown on August 7. Fox News Digital reported Wednesday that number had climbed to more than 550, citing White House data.

Attorney General Pam Bondi, Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem, Interior Secretary Doug Burgum and U.S. Attorney for D.C. Jeanine Pirro were also at Thursday’s photo op.

Trump said earlier Thursday he was going to hit the D.C. streets with law enforcement, but he instead went back to the White House after his meet-and-greet.

CNN reported, citing an unnamed source, some Secret Service members had been caught off guard by the president’s announcement.

Trump met with local and federal law enforcement at the U.S. Park Police facility in Anacostia Thursday evening, complimenting the roughly 300 men and women in the crowd (Getty Images)

When the president announced last week he had placed the Metropolitan Police Department under direct federal control and deployed about 800 National Guard troops to D.C., he claimed it was done for the sake of the locals’ safety.

“I’m announcing a historic action to rescue our nation’s capital from crime, bloodshed, bedlam, and squalor, and worse,” he said.

But the violent crime rate went down by 35 percent in 2024, a 30-year low, after peaking in 2023, the U.S. Attorney’s Office for D.C. said in January.

Vice President JD Vance told Fox News’ Laura Ingraham in an interview that aired Wednesday night violent crime has dropped 35 percent in the last nine days. He did not offer any evidence to support this statistic.

This is a developing story…