‘Don’t Fall For the Distraction’: Left Accuses Trump of Epstein Cover Up With DC Troop Deployment

President Donald Trump sparked a wave of comments from Democrats and others on the left on Monday, who accused the president of deploying the National Guard to Washington, DC as a distraction from the ongoing fallout from the Jeffrey Epstein case.

“I’m announcing a historic action to rescue our nation’s capital from crime, bloodshed, bedlam, and squalor, and worse. This is Liberation Day in D.C., and we’re gonna take our capital back. We’re taking it back. Under the authorities vested in me as the president of the United States, I’m officially invoking Section 740 of the District of Columbia Home Rule Act,” Trump announced from the White House briefing room.

“The number of car thefts has doubled over the past five years, and the number of carjackings has more than tripled. Murders in 2023 reached the highest rate probably ever. They say 25 years, but they don’t know what that means because it just goes back 25 years. It can’t be worse. Our capital city has been overtaken by violent gangs and bloodthirsty criminals—roving mobs of wild youth, drugged-out maniacs, and homeless people,” he later added, before continuing his freewheeling remarks.

Critics were quick to denounce the move as a kind of stunt, despite its profound implications for both DC and the country.

Sen. Patty Murray (D-WA) wrote in response, “A rambling and incoherent Trump wants to turn DC into his personal police state despite a 30-year low in crime. He’s a pathetic wannabe dictator who wants to distract you from his connection to the Epstein files, skyrocketing costs, and his weak job numbers. Don’t let him.”

“I can tell you one thing for sure—crime is WAY up at the White House. Don’t fall for the distraction. Trump could release the Epstein Files right now if he wanted to. Why won’t he?” replied Rep. Jim McGovern (D-MA).

“Whatever is in those files are really bad,” commented liberal activist Fred Wellman, to which The Atlantic’s Tom Nichols replied, “First thing I thought when I saw the stuff about taking over DC.”

Below are some more reactions from the left:

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