WASHINGTON − President Donald Trump said he will join law enforcement on the streets of Washington, DC, on the night of Thursday, Aug. 21 amid his federal takeover of DC.

Trump announced his extraordinary plans to patrol with DC police and the National Guard on the Todd Starnes Radio show.

"I'm going to be going out tonight," Trump told Starnes. "I'm going to keep it a secret. You're the only one that knows ‒ you and your lots of listeners.

"I'm going out tonight, I think, with the police and with the military, of course," the president added. "And we're going to do a job."

The White House said details about Trump's appearance with law enforcement will be announced later.

It comes 10 days after he ordered 800 National Guard troops to the streets of Washington and took action to seize control of the city's police force after declaring a local crime emergency in DC.

Trump said the aggressive steps were necessary to combat crime in the city, even though Washington's violent crime rate was down 26% in 2025 compared with last year.

Vice President JD Vance, joined by Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth and top White House aide Stephen Miller, stopped by Washington's Union Station on Aug. 20 to thank National Guard troops and claim that crime has already dropped drastically in the nation's capital following Trump's takeover.

But the three Trump administration officials faced heckling from a small group of protesters who chanted "Free DC!" and produced a drumbeat of noise that drowned them out. Miller mocked the protesters as "elderly white hippies" who don't represent DC, which has more Black than white residents.

Trump has already hailed his deployment of the National Guard and efforts to federalize the Metropolitan Police Force as a major success and boasted that his efforts have the support of most of the district.

"Even Democrats are calling me up and saying, 'It's unbelievable,'" Trump said of the progress as a result of his crackdown in DC. "You know it's been four days, right? And they said it's unbelievable."

But a poll of Washington, DC, residents conducted by the Washington Post and George Mason University this week found that 79% oppose Trump's crime crackdown in DC and 65% said they don't believe it will reduce violent crime.

This story has been updated to add new information.

Reach Joey Garrison on X @joeygarrison.

This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: President Trump says he will patrol DC streets with police, military on Thursday

Reporting by Joey Garrison, USA TODAY / USA TODAY

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