Trump Threatens Military Troops In Baltimore Amid Fight With Moore

BALTIMORE, MD — A war of words flared Sunday between Gov. Wes Moore and Donald Trump after the president said he might expand his military deployments to more Democratic-led cities. The threat came in response to an offer by Maryland's governor to join him in a tour of Baltimore, with Trump saying he might instead “send in the ‘troops.’”

Moore was on "Face The Nation" Sunday to chastise Trump for canceling federal grants to help bolster local law enforcement.

The Democratic first-term governor said on CBS that Trump's rhetoric on crime is "purely performative."

"While the president is spending his time from the Oval Office making jabs and attacks at us, there are people actually on the ground doing the work who know what supports would actually work to continue to bring down crime. But it's falling on deaf ears of the president of the United States," Moore said on "Face the Nation with Margaret Brennan."

Last week, Moore sent a letter to Trump inviting him to attend a public safety walk in Maryland, while touting the state's investments in local law enforcement and other efforts to address crime under his administration. In 2025, Baltimore has seen a 22% decrease in homicides from last year, according to the Baltimore Police Department.

In a Truth Social post on Sunday, Trump said Moore asked “in a rather nasty and provocative tone,” and then raised the specter of repeating the National Guard deployment he made in Los Angeles over the objections of California's Democratic governor, Gavin Newsom.

"Wes Moore’s record on Crime is a very bad one, unless he fudges his figures on crime like many of the other ‘Blue States’ are doing," Trump wrote, as he cited a pejorative nickname he uses frequently for the California governor. “But if Wes Moore needs help, like Gavin Newscum did in L.A., I will send in the ‘troops,’ which is being done in nearby DC, and quickly clean up the Crime.”

The disagreement turned heated on the question of military service. In 2005, Moore deployed to Afghanistan as a lieutenant with the 82nd Airborne Division, leading soldiers in combat.

Moore's social media account on Sunday took a swing at Trump's lack of military service.

President Bone Spurs will do anything to get out of walking – even if that means spouting off more lies about the progress we’re making on public safety in Maryland.

Hey Donald, we can get you a golf cart if that makes things easier. Just let my team know.
— Wes Moore (@iamwesmoore) August 24, 2025

Moore said he invited Trump to Maryland “because he seems to enjoy living in this blissful ignorance" about improving crime rates in Baltimore. After a spike during the pandemic that matched nationwide trends, Baltimore's violent crime rate has fallen. The 200 homicides reported last year were down 24% from the prior year and 42% since 2021, according to city data. Between 2023 and 2024, overall violent crime was down nearly 8% and property crimes down 20%.

The president's post on Truth Social, which was also reposted on X by a White House account, said in part:

"Governor Wes Moore of Maryland has asked, in a rather nasty and provocative tone, that t 'walk the streets of Maryland' with him. I assume he is talking about out of control, crime ridden, Baltimore? As president, I would much prefer that he clean up this crime disaster before I go there for a 'walk.' "

Trump is “spouting off a bunch of lies about public safety in Maryland,” Moore said in a fundraising email.

Trump has said Chicago and New York are most likely his next targets, eliciting strong pushback from Democratic leaders in both states.

The president also suggested he might have to reconsider federal funding for the rebuilding of the Francis Scott Key Bridge — which collapsed in March 2024 when it was hit by a disabled cargo ship, killing six highway workers on the span — that was finalized before he took office, WBAL TV said.

The president has repeatedly described some of the nation’s largest cities — run by Democrats, with Black mayors and majority-minority populations — as dangerous and filthy.

The Rev. Al Sharpton, speaking during a religious event Sunday at Howard University in Washington, D.C., said the Guard's presence in the nation's capital was not about crime: "This is about profiling us.”

“This is laced with bigotry and racism,” he later elaborated to reporters. "Not one white mayor has been designated. And I think this is a civil rights issue, a race issue, and an issue of D.C. statehood.”

The Associated Press contributed reporting.