Democrat Pete Buttigieg accused President Trump of using his sweeping anti-crime crusade in the nation’s capital as a distraction from other issues he has faced early in his second White House term.
“The president is doing this not in order to make the city safer — that’s the job of local law enforcement — but to solve his own political problems,” the former Biden official said in a video posted on social media. “I hesitate to use a word like ‘distraction,” even though distraction is part of his goal, because it is a legitimately important thing that he is taking power in this way.”
Buttigieg, who unsuccessfully sought the 2020 Democratic presidential nomination, has stoked speculation that he may pursue another White House run in 2028 with his frequent critiques of the Trump administration.
He has often focused his criticism on Trump’s agenda-setting One Big Beautiful Bill Act, which the president signed in July after Republicans in Congress fast-tracked the tax and spending measure.
The White House didn’t immediately respond to The Hill’s request for comment on the former Transportation Secretary’s latest remarks.
Buttigieg’s video was posted hours after Trump signed an executive order on Monday to take temporary control of the Metropolitan Police Department (MPD) and deploy National Guard troops to Washington.
Buttigieg suggested that Trump is trying to shift the public’s focus away from potential fallout of the “big beautiful bill” and diffuse mounting pressure over the Jeffrey Epstein files.
“He needs to get his base talking and thinking about something besides his refusal to open up the Epstein files because he’s mixed up in them, and he wants the rest of the country focused on something, anything, besides the work that he has done and continues to do to kick millions of Americans off of their health insurance, to close down rural hospitals, and to undermine basic functions of our government in order to pay for tax cuts for the wealthiest,” Buttigieg said.
Democrats across the board have hammered Trump and his Republican allies over the measure’s cuts to Medicaid funding and food assistance programs, as well as the tax breaks extended for wealthy people.