Nearly 70 arrests were made on Saturday night during Trump's ongoing cleanup operation in Washington D.C., with charges including assault and weapon possession.

The New Jersey Democrat charged that Trump’s push to clean up DC and end sanctuary city policies “show us each and every day how much of a bigot he is.”

The White House has been playing an outsized role in the FBI’s operations since Trump announced on August 11 that he was initiating a federal takeover of the District of Columbia’s police department and calling in the National Guard to help patrol the streets. Critics have decried his actions as an authoritarian-like abuse of power.

The Trump administration’s crackdown on violent crime in Washington, D.C., has already netted more than 240 arrests and seized 38 guns off the streets, a White House official said.

Residents in one Washington, D.C., neighborhood lined up to protest the increased police presence after the White House said the number of National Guard troops in the nation’s capital would ramp up and federal officers would be on the streets around the clock.

The city’s Attorney General Brian Schwalb filed a lawsuit calling for an emergency restraining order to block the move, accusing the Trump Administration of implementing a “hostile takeover” of the Metropolitan Police Department (MPD) that would lead to “imminent, irreparable harm”.

A White House spokesperson told CBS News that while deployed National Guard members "may be armed," they will not make arrests.

Authorities also said there will be a "significantly higher national guard presence on the ground" starting Wednesday night.

The White House on Monday said Washington, D.C. has the highest murder rate in 2024, as it cited the murder rates in Delhi, Islamabad, Paris, London and other cities around the world.

The White House plans to conduct a wide-ranging review of the Smithsonian Institution's museum exhibitions, materials and operations ahead of America's 250th anniversary.