While the deployment of President Donald Trump of Troops of the National Guard in Washington continued on Wednesday, the protesters booed the vice president JD Vance during a photograph with the guards parked in the city.
The protesters made fun of Vance, the Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth and the Cabinet Deputy Director of the White House, Stephen Miller, while visiting Union Station, block the United States Capitol, to thank the troops in a shake hut where they bought lunch for the members of the guard.
The White House Cabinet Deputy Director Stephen Miller, Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth and vice president JD Vance, greet the members of the National Guard of the Union in Washington, on August 20, 2025.
TO DRAGO/AP
“Well, a lot has changed in the last seven days,” Vance told the troops, referring when the federal increase against DC crime began. “You are doing a great job. I am proud of you and we are grateful,” he told the troops. “Then, we will greet a little, I just want to shake some hands and say they hear.”
“DC for free,” the protesters shouted when the three officials arrived and then inside Shake’s hut. The songs drowned a lot about what Vance, Hegseth and Miller said while trying to talk to journalists.
The protesters sing, when Vice President JD Vance, Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth and the White House Cabinet Deputy director, Stephen Miller, visit the members of the National Guard, in Union Station in Washington, on August 20, 2025.
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Vance and Miller ruled out the Jeers, calling “crazy” and “communist” protesters.
Vice President JD Vance walks to meet with the National Guard at the Union station, August 2025 in Washington.
Alexander Drago/Pool through AP
“They seem to hate the idea that Americans can enjoy their communities,” Vance said.
Vance was asked why the troops were parked in Union Station instead of parts of the city with higher crime rates. The vice president said that the station was being invaded by homeless people and that visitors did not feel safe.
“This should be a monument to American greatness,” he said.
The White House Cabinet Deputy Director Stephen Miller, Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth and Vice President JD Vance talk to the members of the National Guard during a visit to Union Station, on August 20, 2025 in Washington.
To Drago-Pool/Getty Images
Vance added that he believed that crime statistics do not inform the total scope of the crime in the streets of the capital of the nation.
In an event back to school on Wednesday morning, the mayor of Washington, Muriel Bowser, said the city does not need federal agents to guarantee security in DC
“The crime has fallen into our city and has decreased precipitously in the last two years due to a lot of hard work, changes in our public security ecosystem, including changes in the law,” Bowser said. “And we know that these facts do not seem to what some people say, but those are the facts.”
Bowser also said he does not believe that the National Guard should be used for the “application of the law.”
“They have to be used in specific elements of the mission that benefit the nation,” he said about the guards.
The mayor of the District of Columbia, Muriel Bowser, speaks like Pamela Smith, police chief, Metropolitan Police Department, listening during a press conference in Washington, on August 20, 2025.
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However, when asked about how his relationship with President Trump has changed since the beginning of the year, Bowser said his plan is to “represent the district.”
Flanked by the head of the Metropolitan Police Department, Pamela Smith, Bowser repeatedly postponed Smith when asked about the city’s crime data.
The MPD has been collaborative with federal agencies and has so far developed a pleasant relationship with its federal partners, according to Smith. Smith also acknowledged that federal agents distributed throughout the city have been useful for the city’s police force.
“When listening to the officers in the street, some of them have found that it is very useful, some people in the community have found that it is very useful,” he said.
Arthur Jones II of ABC News contributed to this report.
