By Sarah N. Lynch and Ned Parker
WASHINGTON (Reuters) -President Donald Trump's administration this week ordered federal prosecutors in Washington, D.C., to be more aggressive in pursuing criminal cases against people arrested as part of a crackdown in the nation's capital, three people familiar with the matter told Reuters.
The move marks an escalation of Trump's push against what he has described as a wave of crime and homelessness in Washington, in which the Republican president has already called
up hundreds of National Guard troops and temporarily taken over the Democratic-led city's police department.
The head of the criminal division of the Washington, D.C., U.S. Attorney's office, Jonathan Hornok, on Monday told prosecutors to charge as many federal cases as possible against people arrested in the sweeps, a move that could both strain the court system and raise the stakes for criminal defendants because convictions for federal crimes can carry weighty sentences, said the people, who were granted anonymity to discuss internal department matters.
While many of the U.S. federal prosecutors in that office focus on higher-level offenses such as terrorism and fraud, the Washington office plays a dual role in prosecuting both federal and local crimes.
In a post on X on Tuesday, Attorney General Pam Bondi said that since Trump's takeover of the Metropolitan Police Department began, there have been 465 arrests made for a variety of offenses, including homicide, narcotics, and firearm offenses. It was not clear how many of these could be eligible for federal charges.
"In line with President Trump's directive to make D.C. safe, U.S. Attorney (Jeanine) Pirro has made it clear that the old way of doing things is unacceptable. She directed her staff to charge the highest crime that is supported by the law and the evidence," a spokesperson for Pirro's office said on Tuesday.
Dozens of prosecutors have voluntarily left the Washington U.S. Attorney's office since Trump took office in January, while others have been fired. The orders could place additional stress on federal law enforcement agents including those from the FBI who are already stretched thin because they have been ordered to participate in nightly rotational shifts to patrol the capital's streets.
That could leave them less time and resources to help do the follow-up investigations that will be required to support criminal charges, such as interviewing witnesses, canvassing for CCTV footage or following up to obtain DNA evidence, which is often required to win a conviction in D.C. for unlawful firearm possession cases.
The U.S. Attorney's office is planning to bring in about 20 people from the Department of Defense on Monday to serve as special assistant U.S. attorneys to help prosecute the misdemeanor cases, a spokesperson confirmed.
(Reporting by Sarah N. Lynch and Ned Parker; Editing by Scott Malone and Andrea Ricci)
