FILE PHOTO: Members of the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives (ATF) assist the Metropolitan Police conduct a traffic stop check, after U.S. President Donald Trump deployed the National Guard and ordered an increased presence of federal law enforcement to assist in crime prevention, in Washington, D.C., U.S., August 16, 2025. REUTERS/Alex Kent/File Photo

By Trevor Hunnicutt and Joseph Ax

WASHINGTON (Reuters) -Top Trump administration officials on Wednesday thanked troops deployed in the nation's capital and blasted demonstrators opposed to the aggressive anti-crime efforts as "stupid white hippies."

At Union Station, Washington's central train hub, Vice President JD Vance and Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth, accompanied by White House deputy chief of staff Stephen Miller, shook hands with National Guard soldiers at a Shake Shack restaurant.

"You're doing a hell of a job," Vance said, as demonstrators drowned him out with jeers and shouts of "Free D.C.!" He urged troops to ignore the "bunch of crazy protesters," while Miller dismissed them as "stupid white hippies."

The unfamiliar scene - the country's vice president and top defense official visiting troops deployed not to a war zone but to an American city's tourist-filled transit hub - underscored the extraordinary nature of the Trump administration's crackdown in the Democratic-led District of Columbia.

Thousands of Guard soldiers and federal agents have been deployed to the city over the objections of its elected leaders to combat what Trump says is a violent crime wave.

City officials have rejected that assertion, pointing to federal and city statistics that show violent crime has declined significantly since a spike in 2023.

The president has said, without providing evidence, that the crime data is fraudulent. The Justice Department has opened an investigation into whether the numbers were manipulated, the Washington Post reported on Tuesday, citing unnamed sources.

RIFLE, SHOTGUN POSSESSION

Amid the crackdown, federal prosecutors in the District have been told to stop seeking felony charges against people who violate a local law prohibiting individuals from carrying rifles or shotguns in the nation's capital.

The decision by District of Columbia U.S. Attorney Jeanine Pirro, which was first reported by the Washington Post, represents a break from the office's prior policy.

In a statement, Pirro said prosecutors will still be able to charge people with other illegal firearms crimes, such as a convicted felon found in possession of a gun.

"We will continue to seize all illegal and unlicensed firearms," she said.

The White House has touted the number of firearms seized by law enforcement since Trump began surging federal agents and troops into the city. In a social media post on Wednesday, U.S. Attorney General Pam Bondi said the operation had taken 76 illegal guns off the streets and resulted in more than 550 arrests, an average of 42 per day.

The city's Metropolitan Police Department arrested an average of 61 adults and juveniles per day in 2024, according to city statistics. The Trump administration has not specified whether the arrest totals it has cited include those made by MPD officers or only consist of those made by federal agents.

A D.C. code bars anyone from carrying a rifle or shotgun, with narrow exceptions. In her statement, Pirro, a close Trump ally, argued that the law violates two U.S. Supreme Court decisions expanding gun rights.

In 2008, the court struck down a separate D.C. law banning handguns and ruled that individuals have the right to keep firearms in their homes for self-defense. In 2022, the court ruled that any gun-control law must be rooted in the country's historical traditions to be valid.

Unlike U.S. attorneys in all 50 states, who only prosecute federal offenses, the U.S. attorney in Washington prosecutes local crimes as well.

D.C. crime rates have stayed mostly the same as they were a year ago, according to the police department's weekly statistics.

As of Tuesday, the city's overall crime rate is down 7% year over year, the same percentage as before the crackdown. D.C. has also experienced the same declines in violent crime and property crime as it did beforehand, according to the data.

(Reporting by Trevor Hunnicutt in Washington and Joseph Ax in New York; Additional reporting by Susan Heavey, Sarah N. Lynch and Brendan O'Brien; Editing by Colleen Jenkins and Rod Nickel)