U.S. Attorney for the District of Columbia Jeanine Pirro told “FOX News Sunday” that “President Trump has literally changed the safety landscape in Washington” with his surge of federal officers into the streets. “If we go from intolerable to unacceptable, does that mean we should pat ourselves on the back?” she said. “We’ve got individuals who are being shot, stabbed, beaten, and brutalized, and arrests are not being made.” “In the last year and eight months, 45 Black teenagers, minority teenagers, have been shot and killed with firearms,” she said. “You know what the clearance rate is, meaning how many cases have been solved? 29 percent.”

SHANNON BREAM: So, how do you respond to critics who say this is way too heavy-handed, you know, people in uniforms on the streets, looking militarized here in D.C., it’s an overreaction, it’s a distraction? U.S. ATTORNEY JEANINE PIRRO: You know what’s interesting about this, Shannon, is that President Trump has literally changed the safety landscape in Washington, D.C. And I often wonder in answer to your question whether — you know, who is the person who says, you know, crime is low enough for us to handle? Who decides what is acceptable? If we go from intolerable to unacceptable, does that mean we should pat ourselves on the back and say, Let’s just leave town? No. That’s not what President Trump is about here. Washington was one of the most violent cities, not just in the United States, but in the world. So, let’s not — let’s not pussyfoot around this whole thing. We’ve got individuals who are being shot, stabbed, beaten, and brutalized, and arrests are not being made. In the last year and eight months, 45 Black teenagers, minority teenagers, have been shot and killed with firearms. You know what the clearance rate is, Shannon? The clearance rate, meaning how many cases have been solved, is 29 percent. That means that 70 percent of the murderers of African-American teens, all of them killed with guns, are still out on the street with their guns, continuing to do what they do. And so, for all those people who say, “Oh, crime is down. Isn’t this great?” That’s nonsense. What we need is to recognize that the first order of government is a protection of its people. And President Trump is willing to make sure that D.C. has the resources, that D.C. has the determination, and all of us both in the United States attorney’s office are doing the best we can to put together the most solid cases. And so far, we’ve had 1,528 arrests, 156 guns taken off the street, which means they can’t be used to shoot and kill other people. Last night alone, 76 arrests, five guns seized. If anyone has a problem with that, then you know they’re not in compliance with 80 percent of the — 81 percent of the American people who think crime is a major problem in large cities.
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