Only NBC Balanced Its Story on DC Crime, ABC and CBS Unload on Trump as Overwrought

Tim Graham
August 12th, 2025 6:39 AM

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All three broadcast networks reported on President Trump announcing a takeover of the D.C. police, but only NBC attempted any balance on the matter. ABC and CBS both rained skepticism on the policy as unnecessary and overwrought.

NBC Nightly News anchor Tom Llamas began: "The President’s D.C. takeover, declaring a crime emergency and taking control of the city’s police department, and sending in the National Guard. Washington’s mayor calling it 'unsettling and unprecedented' as protesters take to the streets."

White House reporter Gabe Gutierrez used the official stats against Trump, but added skeptics: "The head of the police union tells NBC News the crime stats have been manipulated. And any talk of a recent drop in crime is 'preposterous.' Still, the D.C. City Council calls the federal police takeover 'a manufactured intrusion on local authority' and the mayor says it caught her off-guard." None of the networks pointed out Mayor Muriel Bowser is a Democrat.

NBC also featured a quote from U.S. Attorney Jeanine Pirro, and a anti-Trump protester crying "dictatorship."

On ABC’s World News Tonight, David Muir began by insisting the Democrats had the facts: “Tonight, President Trump ordering the National Guard to take over policing of the nation’s capital. Tonight, the mayor of Washington pushing back with the crime stats, and what they actually show.”

ABC’s Mary Bruce, who so helpfully repeated Biden talking points, was now in full rebuttal mode:

President Trump declaring a public safety emergency in D.C., painting an apocalyptic picture, adamant crime is spiraling out of control. But his depiction stands in stark contrast to the official figures, which show crime in the capital is actually in decline. Violent crime recently hitting a 30-year low, down 26 percent since last year. Burglary down 19 percent. Murder down 12 percent. Still, the President said today the D.C. police will now be able to do whatever they want.

Bruce added ominous overtones about “military force” in the streets: “The President has shown an eagerness to use military force in major cities. Earlier this summer, sending 4,000 National Guard troops and 700 Marines to quell immigration protests in Los Angeles. And tonight, he’s threatening to do this to other cities, saying the model in Washington, D.C. could be used to combat crime in cities like Chicago, Oakland, and Baltimore. All cities notably in Democratic-led states.”

CBS Evening News co-anchor John Dickerson began: “The numbers show crime in Washington, D.C., is down but the president claims it's out of out of control." Co-anchor Maurice DuBois added: “So he’s taking charge of law enforcement in the federal city.”

DuBois added a fractured fact check: “The president said despite evidence to the contrary that crime of the nation's capital is out of control. It has actually been declining since the pandemic.” That’s wrong. Violent crime spiked in 2023, which allows all the talking points about it coming down since then.

Reporter Scott MacFarlane's rebuttal witness against Trump was former homeland security official Tom Warrick:

WARRICK: Taking FBI agents off of organized crime cases, terrorism and other kinds of cases to do street patrols, that's not the best used of a highly trained FBI agent.

MacFARLANE:  You think this could be a distraction?

WARRICK: It really looks as though a lot of this is performance.

MacFARLANE: The 800 National Guard troops are expected to deploy later this weekend and many have little training or expense policing U.S. streets.

WARRICK: The best-case scenario is what happened in Los Angeles, which is these 800 people stand around for several weeks doing essentially nothing, and then eventually most of them go home.

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