Senior officials in the administration of US President Donald Trump thanked the troops deployed to the country's capital, Washington, for security, reports "Reuters". They called protesters opposing crime-fighting efforts "stupid white hippies".
Vice President J.D. Vance and Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth, accompanied by White House Deputy Chief of Staff Stephen Miller, shook hands with National Guard soldiers.
"You're doing a great job, Vance said, as protesters taunted him with jeers and chants of "Free Washington!". He urged troops to ignore the "bunch of crazy protesters," while Miller dismissed them as "stupid white hippies."
Thousands of National Guard troops and federal agents have been deployed to the city over the objections of its authorities to combat what Trump calls a wave of violence.
City officials have rejected that claim, citing federal and city statistics that show violent crime has declined significantly since a peak in 2023.
The president said, without providing evidence, that the crime figures were false. The Justice Department has launched an investigation into whether the numbers were manipulated.
The Washington Post reported this on Tuesday, citing its own sources.
Amid the crackdown, federal prosecutors in the district have been instructed not to file felony charges against people who violate a local law prohibiting individuals from carrying guns in the nation's capital.