Category Archives: Washington, DC

Protesters rally across US after strikes on Iran that killed Khamenei

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Crowds gather in DC, New York and beyond to denounce Trump’s Iran strikes as an illegal act of war

As news circulated that Iran’s supreme leader, Ali Khamenei, had been killed in US and Israeli airstrikes on Tehran, anti-war protesters gathered across the United States, including outside the White House and in New York’s Times Square to voice opposition to US military involvement in the region.

“It wasn’t sanctioned by Congress, so what Trump is doing is on his own terms, it’s making him a fascist and it’s making the country into a fascist state,” said Sue Johnson, a protester.

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Trump invites families of national guard members who were shot to White House

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President plans to honor Sarah Beckstrom, who was fatally shot, as well as Andrew Wolfe, who is in critical condition

Donald Trump said on Sunday that he invited the family of a national guard member fatally shot last week to the White House, adding that he spoke to her parents and they were “devastated”.

US army specialist Sarah Beckstrom, 20, was killed in a shooting on Wednesday in Washington DC. Her fellow service member, US air force staff Sgt Andrew Wolfe, 24, remains hospitalized in critical condition. Vigils across West Virginia have taken place in their memory.

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Kristi Noem claims suspect in national guard shooting was ‘radicalized’ in US

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Homeland security secretary also blamed ‘activist’ judges for defying court order to halt deportation flights

Kristi Noem, the homeland security secretary, claimed on Sunday that the suspect in the national guard shooting in Washington DC was “radicalized” in the US and blamed the Biden administration, though the suspect’s asylum was approved under Donald Trump.

The shooting suspect, 29-year-old Rahmanullah Lakanwal, was granted asylum under the Trump administration in April 2025. He worked with CIA backed units in Afghanistan, coming to the US in September 2021 under an Operation Allies Welcome program.

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DC to put national guard on joint patrols with local police after shootings

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Move marks shift in how the guard are used in the US capital, days after two members were shot

National guard troops are to be paired with local law enforcement on patrols in Washington DC, according to a report in the Washington Post on Friday, 48 hours after two guard members were shot.

“Officers will conduct high-visibility patrols with the national guard and provide assistance as needed,” according to an email to the district’s leadership obtained by the Post.

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Trump says he will ‘permanently pause’ migration from ‘third world countries’ after national guard shooting

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In a social media post sent late on Thanksgiving, US president said he would ‘end all federal benefits and subsidies to noncitizens’ following Washington DC shooting

Donald Trump has said he will “permanently pause migration from all third world countries,” a day after two national guard members were shot in Washington DC in an attack that has become a political flashpoint in the president’s ongoing crackdown on immigration.

In a social media post beginning with “a very happy Thanksgiving,” sent after 11pm on Thursday, the US president said his administration would “end all federal benefits and subsidies to noncitizens” and remove “anyone who is not a net asset to the United States”.

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Trump officials announce sweeping immigration reviews after national guard shooting

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Donald Trump signaled after attack that refugee and asylum cases would be scrutinized

Trump administration officials say they are undertaking a broad re-examination of asylum cases and green cards issued to citizens of certain countries, after the shooting of two national guard members near the White House in Washington DC on Wednesday.

The Department of Homeland Security (DHS) named the suspect in the shooting as Rahmanullah Lakanwal, a 29-year-old Afghan national who entered the US under a policy set up under Joe Biden after the US withdrawal from Afghanistan in 2021 and continued under Donald Trump.

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Suspect in Washington DC national guard shooting had ties to CIA, agency confirms

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Rahmanullah Lakanwal, 29, worked with agency-backed military units during US war in Afghanistan

The suspected shooter of two national guard members in Washington DC on Wednesday worked with CIA-backed military units during the US war in Afghanistan, the agency has confirmed.

The alleged gunman, identified as Rahmanullah Lakanwal, 29, came to the US in September 2021 under an Operation Allies Welcome program that gave some Afghans who had worked for the US government entry visas to the US.

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National guard deployment in Washington DC extended until February

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Pentagon chief Pete Hegseth gives approval for troops to remain in US capital past November end, CNN reports

National guard troops sent to the nation’s capital will reportedly remain there through at least February.

The order was set to lapse at the end of November but was extended by Pete Hegseth, who leads the US Department of Defense. As of Wednesday, there are nearly 2,400 national guard troops in Washington DC, according to CNN. The network also notes that their presence costs about $1m daily.

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US driver kills one and injures at least 14 in car-ramming attack at child’s party

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Driver turned himself in to Maryland authorities after initially fleeing scene, where eight children were injured

A driver rammed into a group of people at a children’s birthday party outside of Washington DC late on Saturday, killing a woman in her 30s and injuring at least 14 others, eight of whom were children.

In a statement released by the Bladensburg police department in Maryland, they announced that the driver of the striking vehicle had turned himself in and had been identified as a 66 year-old man from the surrounding area.

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‘My vote is my voice’: protesters fight for democracy as Trump casts shadow

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Outside the supreme court, protesters invoked the legacy of civil rights giants with a key Voting Rights Act plank at stake

Wearing a T-shirt proclaiming “We won’t Black down”, Wanda Mosley had made the trip from Atlanta. “I had to be here because the Voting Rights Act is on life support,” the 55-year-old explained. “Today the court will synthesise the arguments and decide if they’re going to kill it – or allow it to live.”

Mosley was among a few hundred protesters who gathered in warm October sunshine outside the supreme court on Wednesday. Inside the building, whose facade was obscured by scaffolding, justices were weighing arguments in a case involving Louisiana electoral districts and section 2 of the Voting Rights Act.

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US Smithsonian museums and National Zoo close due to government shutdown

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Washington DC-based institution says it’ll temporarily close museums and research centers in response to shutdown

Smithsonian museums and the National Zoo closed their doors on Sunday in response to the ongoing government shutdown.

In a statement over the weekend, the Washington DC-based Smithsonian Institution announced that it was temporarily closing its museums, research centers and its zoo due to the government shutdown which has now entered the third week.

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Trump jeered by protesters as he dines at Washington DC restaurant

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Protesters shouted ‘Trump is the Hitler of our time!’ as he had a meal near the White House to promote his deployment of the National Guard

Donald Trump faced protesters shouting “Free DC! Free Palestine! Trump is the Hitler of our time!” as he dined at a Washington restaurant, videos posted online showed.

The US president approached the shouting protesters in the restaurant, pausing a few feet away from them for a few moments, nodding and smiling without offering a response.

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Judge blocks White House from defunding 34 municipalities over ‘sanctuary’ policies

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Cities that limit cooperation with immigration authorities had sued Trump administration over funding freeze

A federal judge has blocked the Trump administration from cutting off federal funding to 34 “sanctuary cities” and counties that limit cooperation with federal immigration law enforcement, significantly expanding a previous order.

The order, issued on Friday by the San Francisco-based US district judge William Orrick, adds Los Angeles and Chicago, as well as Boston, Baltimore, Denver and Albuquerque, to cities that the administration is barred from denying funding.

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Washington DC restaurants suffer sharp drop in diners since Trump crackdown

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Eating out drops by up to 31% amid federal takeover of policing that Democrats call ‘stunt’ to distract from Epstein

The number of people eating at restaurants in Washington DC has plummeted since Donald Trump deployed federal troops to the city, according to data, as the president’s purported crackdown on crime continues.

Research by Open Table found that restaurant attendance was down every day last week compared with 2024, with the number of diners dipping by 31% on Wednesday, two days after Trump ordered the national guard to patrol Washington.

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Three states to deploy hundreds of national guard troops to Washington DC

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South Carolina and Ohio join West Virginia in pledging troops, fueling protests that national guard should not be used for ‘a political policing mission’

Three states have moved to deploy hundreds of members of their national guard to the nation’s capital as part of the Trump administration’s effort to overhaul policing in Washington through a federal crackdown.

West Virginia said it was deploying 300 to 400 guard troops, while South Carolina pledged 200 and Ohio said it would send 150 in the coming days.

The moves announced on Saturday came as protesters pushed back on federal law enforcement and national guard troops fanning out in the heavily Democratic city following Donald Trump’s executive order federalizing local police forces and activating about 800 District of Columbia national guard members.

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Democrats introduce joint resolution to end Trump’s ‘lawless’ DC takeover

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Legislation says special emergency conditions that would warrant federalization of DC police have not been met

Democratic lawmakers have introduced a joint resolution aimed at ending what they call Trump’s unlawful and unprecedented move to federalize the Metropolitan police department (MPD) in Washington DC.

Representative Jamie Raskin, the ranking member of the House judiciary committee; DC’s non-voting House delegate, Eleanor Holmes Norton; and representative Robert Garcia, ranking member of the House committee on oversight and government reform, introduced the resolution on Friday, invoking the District of Columbia Home Rule Act of 1973.

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Man accused of throwing sandwich at US border agent charged with assault

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Sean Dunn charged with assaulting federal officer over incident in Washington, which could result in a year in jail

A man accused of throwing a sandwich at a US Customs and Border Protection agent in Washington DC has been charged with assaulting a federal officer – a felony that could result in up to a year in jail and significant fines.

Captured in a now viral video, the man authorities have identified as Sean Charles Dunn, 37, could be seen yelling “Fascists!” and “Shame!” at a group of officers as they patrolled the district on Sunday night.

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National guard arrives in DC as mayors warn of Trump power grab

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The US president deployed troops after taking control of DC police, sparking fears of similar moves elsewhere

Muriel Bowser, the mayor of Washington DC, has pledged to work “side by side” with the federal government as national guard troops arrive at their headquarters in the capital.

The show of force came after Donald Trump announced that he was sending the national guard into the capital and putting city police under federal control, even though the violent crime rate is at a 30-year low.

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Trump spreads false narratives about DC crime – just as he did with LA

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As mayor calls US president ‘hyperbolic’, experts say portrayal of crime rooted in false and misleading claims

Donald Trump is deploying the national guard in Washington DC and seizing control of its police force, claiming that the nation’s capital has become “lawless” and is “one of the most dangerous cities anywhere in the world”.

The president portrayed himself as DC’s savior, vowing to rid it of “crime, bloodshed, bedlam, and squalor and worse”.

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