What to Make of Trump's DC Takeover

Amanpour

CNN

News

4.1 • 1K Ratings

🗓️ 12 August 2025

⏱️ 54 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

🧾️ Download transcript

Summary

The streets of Washington, DC will soon be patrolled by 800 National Guard troops, the city's police will be under federal control for the first time in their history, and homeless people will be forced to leave. According to President Trump, it's all necessary to tackle a purported wave of lawlessness. And while crime is certainly a problem in the capital, Trump's description of a public safety emergency told a slightly different story than the statistics. There's actually been a decrease in crime, with violent crime at a 30-year low. With Trump hinting that Washington is just the first city to face these measures, what does this say about his exertion of executive power? Andrew McCabe was the acting FBI Director in the first Trump administration, he joins the program to discuss. Also on today's show: Victoria Fontan, Rector of the American University of Malta & Mumtaz Islamzay, Afghan Student; David A. Graham, Staff writer, The Atlantic Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Transcript

Click on a timestamp to play from that location

0:00.0	Hello everyone and welcome to Ammanpur. Here's what's coming up.
0:03.6	I'm announcing a historic action to rescue our nation's capital from crime, bloodshed,
0:11.6	bedlam and squalor. Trump's DC takeover. I asked former FBI official Andrew McCabe
0:18.0	about testing the limits of presidential power.
0:26.7	Then, an American president and a Russian president without a Ukrainian there could potentially give this bustling town over to the Russians after them fighting for it for so many
0:33.9	years. As the world awaits the Trump-Putinen meeting, the people it will impact, a special report
0:40.4	from Kramatursk Ukraine.
0:42.8	Plus, four years since the fall of Kabul, the Taliban's War on Women's Education.
0:48.9	Also ahead.
0:50.2	How Project 2025 is reshaping America. Journalist and author David A. Graham tells Haris Srinivasan what we can learn from the blueprint for Trump 2.0. Welcome to the program, everyone.
1:18.6	I'm Bianca Rodriguez in New York, sitting in for Christian Ammanpur.
1:22.2	Taking the capital back, that's how the president of the United States has framed his crackdown on crime.
1:28.0	The streets of Washington, D.C. will soon be patrolled by 800 National Guard troops.
1:32.4	The city's police will be under federal control for the first time in their history,
1:36.5	and homeless people will be forced to leave.
1:39.3	And according to President Trump, it's all necessary to tackle a purported wave of lawlessness.
1:44.6	Here's what he said.
1:46.4	Our capital city has been overtaken by violent gangs and bloodthirsty criminals,
1:51.1	roving mobs of wild youth, drugged out maniacs and homeless people, and we're not going to let it happen anymore.
1:58.9	We're not going to take it.
2:00.7	And while crime is certainly a problem in the Capitol, Trump's description of a public safety and we're not going to let it happen anymore. We're not going to take it.
2:00.9	And while crime is certainly a problem in the Capitol,
	...

Please login to see the full transcript.

Previous episode | Next episode

Disclaimer: The podcast and artwork embedded on this page are from CNN, and are the property of its owner and not affiliated with or endorsed by Tapesearch.

Generated transcripts are the property of CNN and are distributed freely under the Fair Use doctrine. Transcripts generated by Tapesearch are not guaranteed to be accurate.