Trump pushes law-and-order policy in first D.C. speech since leaving White House

Former President Trump, giving his first speech in Washington since leaving office, attacked soft-on-crime policies on Tuesday for leading to a national wave of violence in many U.S. cities, and said police must be allowed to do their jobs.

“Under the Democrat rule, in Democrat-run cities, Democrat-run states and a Democrat-run federal government, the criminals have been given free rein more than ever before. There’s never been a time like this,” Mr. Trump told the America First Policy Institute summit at a Washington hotel.

He said American streets “are riddled with needles and soaked with the blood of innocent victims.”

“Many of our once great cities from New York to Chicago to LA, where the middle class used to flock to live the American dream, are now war zones, literal war zones,” the former president said.