US President Donald Trump faced protests while dining at a Washington DC restaurant for the first time since taking office in January.
As he entered Joe’s Seafood, Prime Steak & Stone Crab near the White House, a small group of demonstrators chanted “Free DC” and “Free Palestine,” calling him “the Hitler of our time,” while other diners booed the protesters.
According to CNN, Trump has largely avoided the city’s restaurant scene since returning to Washington, opting instead to dine at the White House or occasionally at his nearby golf club in Sterling, Virginia.
Trump responded with, “We have a safe city, so that’s good. Enjoy yourself. You won’t be mugged going home,” he told the diners.
US President Donald Trump was joined by Secretary of State Marco Rubio, Vice President JD Vance, and Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth while dining in Washington DC.
Speaking to reporters before the dinner, Trump credited his administration’s recent crime crackdown with making the city safe and hinted at launching a similar operation in another city soon. “We’ll be announcing another city that we’re going to very shortly, we’re working it out,” he said.
The President noted that he would not have risked dining in DC months earlier. “This was one of the most unsafe cities in the country. Now it’s as safe as there is in the country, so we’re here with cabinet members having dinner, and everybody should go out,” he added, highlighting the expanded federal control over DC policing implemented last month.
Trump was also applauded by some diners during the outing, to which he responded, “We have a safe city, so that’s good. Enjoy yourself. You won’t be mugged going home."
Reiterating his reasoning for dining out, he said, “I wouldn’t have done this three months ago, four months ago, I certainly wouldn’t have done it a year ago. This was one of the most unsafe cities in the country. Now it’s as safe as there is in the country, so we’re here with Cabinet members having dinner, and everybody should go out."
On plans for future operations, Trump added, “We’ll be announcing another city that we’re going to very shortly — we’re working it out. The governor of a certain state would love us to be there, and the mayor of a certain city in that same state would love us to be there. We’ll announce it probably tomorrow, and it’s going to be something where we’ll do like we did here."
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