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Trump Warns He May Send Troops to Baltimore to Fight Crime

Members of the National Guard patrol the 14 Street restaurant and nightlife area in Washington on Aug. 22, 2025. Andrew Leyden/Getty Images

President Donald Trump suggested that he’s contemplating sending National Guard troops to the city of Baltimore to fight what he described as a “crime disaster” in the city.

“If [Maryland Gov.] Wes Moore needs help, like [California Gov. Gavin Newsom] did in L.A., I will send in the ’troops,' which is being done in nearby DC, and quickly clean up the Crime,” Trump wrote in a post on Truth Social on Aug. 24.

In that post, Trump replied to comments that Moore made on CNN on Aug. 22, saying the president needed to “walk the streets” of Maryland before making judgments about the situation. Trump criticized Moore’s remarks in his post.

“I assume he is talking about out of control, crime ridden, Baltimore?” Trump wrote. “As President, I would much prefer that he clean up this Crime disaster before I go there for a ‘walk.’”

Earlier this year, Trump also deployed National Guardsmen to Los Angeles amid protests and riots against immigration enforcement in the city. More recently, he’s taken advantage of a provision in the Home Rule Act to deploy National Guardsmen to Washington and take control of local police as part of an anti-crime and beautification initiative.

During an Aug. 24 appearance on “Face the Nation,” Moore was asked about the president’s post about Baltimore.

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He expressed strong opposition to Trump’s suggestion, saying that the “pace of operations” is not sustainable, citing a cost of roughly a million dollars per day.

Moore also said that such operations are “not scalable” to every major U.S. city, “particularly when many of the cities that have the highest crime rates are the places that have ... deployed their National Guard in DC.”

He said the move would also be unconstitutional, citing the 10th Amendment, which has long been understood to give states control of police powers, including powers related to the health, safety, welfare, and morals of their citizens.

“It’s a direct violation of the 10th Amendment, and for a party that talks about state rights, it’s amazing how we’re having such a Big Government approach in the way they’re conducting public safety,” Moore said.

Trump May Rethink Bridge Funding

In his post, Trump also said he may rethink the decision to allow the federal government to foot the full bill for repairing the Francis Scott Key Bridge in Baltimore amid his feud with Moore.

“I gave Wes Moore a lot of money to fix his demolished bridge. I will now have to rethink that decision???” Trump wrote in the post.

Trump’s predecessor, President Joe Biden, encouraged federal funding of the multi-billion-dollar project to repair the Francis Scott Key Bridge, which collapsed on March 26, 2024, after a cargo liner that had lost power crashed into one of the supports for the bridge. Six workers were killed in the collapse.

It’s my intention that federal government will pay for the entire cost of reconstructing that bridge, and I expect ... Congress to support my effort,” Biden said at the time.

In December 2024, Congress approved $2 billion in funding for the project as part of a stopgap spending bill, the final piece of government funding legislation the outgoing president signed.

Because the funding is congressionally approved, rescinding it may require authorization from the Legislature under the Impoundment Control Act of 1974 or through future government funding and appropriations bills.