Vice President JD Vance, Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth and White House Deputy Chief of Staff Stephen Miller visited National Guard troops at Washington’s Union Station on 20 Aug. 2025, offering thanks and a fast-food lunch to soldiers assigned to the D.C. Safe and Beautiful Task Force. The federally led operation, ordered by President Donald Trump, has stationed Guard units at key transit hubs and other sites in the capital. Speaking to reporters inside the rail terminal, Vance said violent crime city-wide had fallen 35 % and robberies more than 50 % in the nine days since the task-force surge began on 11 Aug. Miller added that at least 465 suspects have been arrested and several homeless encampments cleared, calling the early results proof that the crackdown is restoring public safety. Outside and inside the station, demonstrators chanting “Free D.C.” heckled the officials. Miller dismissed the protesters as “stupid white hippies,” while Vance said it was “bizarre” to see “old, primarily white people” opposing efforts to reduce violence in a predominantly Black city. Neither Vance nor Hegseth gave a timeline for when the National Guard presence might be scaled back.