A reporter for a Washington, D.C., area TV station provided an update Thursday on how Union Station appeared after President Donald Trump ordered a crackdown on crime in the nation’s capital.
Trump announced a federal takeover of Washington, D.C.’s Metropolitan Police Department (MPD) to combat crime in the district on Aug. 11, shortly after Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) staffer Edward Coristine, known by the moniker “Big Balls,” was injured when he intervened to stop a carjacking. WJLA news anchor Adrianna Hopkins asked reporter John Gonzalez about how Union Station looked after Secretary of Transportation Sean Duffy announced the Transportation Department would resume direct control of the Washington landmark. (RELATED: CNN Host Disputes How Dangerous DC Is Even After Scott Jennings Details Murder He Witnessed)
“We are in the main atrium here at Union Station, and I got to tell you, in my opinion, the place looks better than it has in years, cleaner than it has in years, but there’s still plenty of empty retail space,” Gonzales said.
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Duffy said the takeover of the D.C. landmark, which was completed in 1908, would not only make improvements to the station’s capital infrastructure, but would also make it safer.
Salem Radio Network host Scott Jennings described witnessing a murder at Union Station during an Aug. 11 appearance on “CNN NewsNight.”
“There’s an obvious difference between D.C. and any other city in America. You know, a few months ago, I was in Union Station and saw a body hit the floor at the bottom of the escalator in Union Station because there was a murder right in front of me up on the second floor,” Jennings said during a segment on Trump ordering the crackdown. “I was going to get a tie, and I heard the shots and saw the body hit the floor.”
CNN reporter Gabe Cohen told “CNN News Central” guest co-host Jessica Dean during an Aug. 14 segment that the number of people “hanging around” Union Station had gone down since Trump began cracking down on crime in the nation’s capital. (RELATED: DC Mayor Responds To Trump Crackdown By Calling For Statehood)
“This is one of the areas of focus that we have heard a lot of concerns about, crime around Union Station, people who are loitering outside,” Cohen told Dean. “I will tell you, as somebody who walks this route all the time, it does seem like there are fewer people just sort of hanging around, but we don’t know exactly what that is.”
Since Trump launched the crackdown in the nation’s capital, 1,283 arrests have been made and 135 guns have been seized, according to a Thursday post on X by Attorney General Pam Bondi.
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