Press Releases

On the tragic shooting at Annunciation Catholic Church:

“Well, it's really a sad story that you see another story where children are killed and injured.  There's no place for that kind of violence in our schools or targeting elected officials or anyone … It's sad that there's that kind of anger and hatred that would drive these individuals to go commit those heinous acts of crime.”

On the loss of intern Eric Tarpinian-Jachym:

“Eric Tarpinian-Jachym was a 21-year-old. He was about to be a senior at the University of Massachusetts Amherst. He was serving as an intern in our office, and he was a great young man. 

“It's a sad state that in our nation's capital, there have been over 100 people killed on the city streets this year. We should want to be proud of our capital. We should want to be able to have a showcase that we could have Americans come visit or we could have foreign dignitaries come and visit. Eric's tragic death is one of those things that should never have happened. 

“As a parent, I want my children to have the opportunity to take advantage of some of these things. But, for him to come and lose his life because of that is a sad state. We need to make sure that we provide safe streets and we protect Americans across the country. 

“Of course, Washington, D.C.'s a federal district. It's different than the cities in different states. President Trump's really stepped up in terms of saying the federal government has responsibility to help maintain law and order in Washington, D.C. and helping make sure that that happens.”

On President Trump’s crime crackdown:

“...There’s a stark difference now. In the first 10 days or so that the enhanced law enforcement support from the National Guard happened, there weren't any murders. Unfortunately, in the last couple of days there has been another one, just because of the crime in the streets. But, you know, that offsets the first seven months of the year. 

“There were over a hundred people killed on the streets in Washington, D.C., which is worse than other capitals around the world: Bogota and Lima and Madrid and even Chicago. It's worse, six times worse, the rate of murders per 100,000 citizens, in New York City … Between the murder rate’s about 27.5 per 100,000 people and the car jackings and car thefts about 840 per 100,000 people. 

“We want to make sure that the streets are safe and the president's been doing a good job. We've seen a marked decrease … Violent crime’s gone down 40% in the last couple of weeks, which is important for Americans to feel safe and foreign visitors to feel safe as well."

On taking action after President Trump’s federal orders expire after 30 days:

“I think part of what we've seen is, by having the National Guard available to help patrol the streets, the police department in Washington can actually focus on solving some of the cases that have been a backlog for them … They really have not solved Eric's death, and we want to make sure that they have the time to do that. 

“Ultimately, it also relies on some of the discussions around defunding the police … Going back several years ago, the Washington, D.C. local government, which had been granted some authority by Congress, they decided to cut the funding for their police,and it's nowhere near recovered the same trajectory it would have been on, based on the growth rate and the inflation rate since that time. 

“I think that's part of what needs to be addressed as well is making sure that the adequate funding is provided to help make sure that we have safe streets for our Americans, whether it's in Washington, D.C. or Chicago or Nashville or Minneapolis or anywhere else.”

On what a potential comprehensive crime bill should look like:

“I think the primary overall goal in looking at that is we want to make sure we protect Americans. Protect them whether they're in Washington, D.C., whether they're in Wichita Kansas, whether they're in New York or even in California, with some of the riots that have been there in terms of the protests against illegal immigration. 

“We want to make sure that Americans are protected. We want to make sure a crime bill actually focuses on the funding that's being provided from the federal government is utilized to help support those law enforcement, help make sure that they do their role, that they can protect American citizens throughout their city or their state, wherever their area of responsibility is.”