Americanswers…on 5 Live! Why is Donald Trump deploying the National Guard to Washington DC?
Americast
BBC
4.2 • 2.8K Ratings
🗓️ 11 August 2025
⏱️ 41 minutes
🧾️ Download transcript
Summary
Washington D.C. has been "taken over by violent gangs and bloodthirsty criminals”. That was Donald Trump’s claim at this morning’s press conference in Washington DC, where he invoked his presidential powers to deploy the National Guard, and do a federal takeover of the state’s police force. Justin and Anthony join Matt Chorley on 5 Live to discuss why the US president is singling out DC, and what might happen next.
Also, with reports of a 19-vehicle motorcade, armed agents and security crawling over the Cotswolds…it must be JD Vance’s summer holiday. Matt Chorley, Justin and Anthony unpack the security protocol behind a political visit to the UK, and what it means for rural residents.
And we look ahead to Trump’s meeting with Putin in Alaska this Friday - is Vladimir Putin deliberately delaying for more time, or could Trump make some kind of deal? HOSTS: • Justin Webb, Radio 4 presenter • Anthony Zurcher, North America Correspondent
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This episode was made by Purvee Pattni with Grace Reeve. The technical producer was Rohan Madison. The series producer is Purvee Pattni. The senior news editor is Sam Bonham.
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Transcript
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| 0:00.0 | BBC Sounds, Music, Radio, Podcasts. |
| 0:04.9 | Hello, it's Justin in the worldwide headquarters of AmeriCast in London, England. |
| 0:08.8 | And it's Anthony, the American headquarters of AmeriCast in Washington, D.C. |
| 0:13.6 | And in a moment, you will hear us answering your questions on Five Live, |
| 0:18.1 | in Five Lives headquarters in Salford, England with Matt Chorley. |
| 0:22.1 | First, though, there's been a very big reaction already to Donald Trump telling Americans |
| 0:28.0 | that he is rescuing the nation's capital from roving thugs, drugged out youths, and violent crime. |
| 0:34.8 | Our capital city has been overtaken by violent gangs and bloodthirsty criminals, roving |
| 0:40.3 | mobs of wild youth, drugged out maniacs and homeless people, and we're not going to let it |
| 0:46.3 | happen anymore. |
| 0:47.3 | We're not going to take it. |
| 0:49.3 | And, you know, when you take a look at numbers, I just saw some charts. |
| 0:55.0 | These are different cities throughout the world. |
| 0:58.0 | Red is, okay, the red is a place called Washington, D.C. |
| 1:04.0 | Look at these. |
| 1:06.0 | Baghdad is, we doubled up on Baghdad. |
| 1:12.9 | Panama City, Brazil, San Jose Costa Rica, Bogota, Colombia, heavy drugs. |
| 1:22.3 | Mexico City, I mentioned, Lima, Peru. |
| 1:26.5 | All double and triple what they said. |
| 1:30.3 | Do you want to live in places like that? |
| 1:32.3 | I don't think so. I don't think so. |
| 1:34.3 | And I think the people in this room, if you wrote correctly, you'd see, |
... |
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