Protesters gather in Washington DC as federal law enforcement officers stop drivers – US politics live

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Trump makes false claims about crime in Washington DC as homeless camps are cleared

Good morning and welcome to the US politics live blog. My name is Tom Ambrose and I’ll be bringing you all the latest news lines over the next few hours.

We start with news that Donald Trump has falsely claimed crime in Washington DC is “the worst it’s ever been” on Thursday, amid a federal takeover of the city’s police department and deployment of the national guard and federal agents in the city.

“Washington DC is at its worst point,” Trump said from the Oval Office. “It will soon be at its best point.” He also baselessly accused DC law enforcement officials of giving “phony crime stats” and said “they’re under investigation”.

The president’s comments came after protesters heckled federal law enforcement officials as they reportedly stopped dozens of cars at a checkpoint along a busy street in Washington DC on Wednesday night.

About 20 law enforcement officers, some of whom appeared to be from the Department of Homeland Security, pulled over drivers for infractions such as broken taillights and not wearing seatbelts, according to the Washington Post.

At least one woman was reportedly arrested as more than 100 protesters gathered and reportedly yelled things like “get off our streets”, according to NBC News. Some protesters began warning drivers to avoid the area, the outlet reported.

The city’s homeless encampments, which Trump has long fixated on, came under target Thursday night as city police began removing residents. Officials in Washington DC and advocates for the unhoused had warned people living in camps to relocate to shelters before the federal sweeps began.

“We do not have enough shelter beds for everyone on the street,” said Amber W Harding, executive director of the Washington Legal Clinic for the Homeless. “This is a chaotic and scary time for all of us in DC, but particularly for people without homes.”

Read the full story here:

In other developments:

• As part of its advertising blitz to attract new recruits, Immigration and Customs Enforcement (Ice) released a social media video on Thursday that uses a song by the rapper DaBaby and shows agency vehicles that appear to be painted in the same red, blue and gold style as Donald Trump’s private plane, which was featured in the opening sequence for The Apprentice.

• New York’s mayor, Eric Adams, confirmed on social media that a federal building where protesters held a silent vigil on Thursday against Immigration and Customs Enforcement (Ice) was evacuated after “envelopes containing white powder were discovered”.

• In another sign that the Trump presidency is largely made-for-TV, the White House and Fox News revealed that Trump will appear on Fox News both before and immediately after his summit meeting with Vladimir Putin on Friday.

• Four days after Trump ordered the unhoused residents of Washington DC, whom he sped past in his motorcade for a golf outing, to leave the city, local officials helped clear encampments before announced sweeps by federal agents.