Trump surge DC crime courts judges cases.

A member of the West Virginia National Guard gazes up at the Lincoln Memorial on the National Mall in Washington, as part of President Donald Trump's order to use federal law enforcement to expel homeless people and rid the nation's capital of violent crime, Monday, Aug. 25, 2025. (AP Photo/J. Scott Applewhite)

Judges, defense lawyers and grand jurors poke holes in cases from Trump’s DC federal intervention

A grand jury refused to indict a man who was captured on video hurling a sandwich at a federal agent. Prosecutors dropped another case after complaints that police illegally searched a man’s satchel and found a gun. Judges, too, have balked at keeping several defendants in jail, citing weak evidence and dubious charging decisions. President Donald Trump’s crackdown on crime in the nation’s capital has generated a torrent of charges against people caught up in a surge of street patrols. Judges, defense attorneys and even grand jurors are already poking holes in many cases. Trump has framed the three-week-old operation as a campaign to eradicate rampant crime and “take our capital back.”

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