The administration is reaching out to Democratic mayors and governors to broaden President Donald Trump’s crime-fighting initiatives nationwide. Attorney General Pam Bondi, in Memphis, Tenn., this week as part of that effort, touted the success of the Memphis Safe Task Force, the Washington Reporter noted.
She was joined by Sens. Bill Hagerty (R., Tenn.) and Marsha Blackburn (R., Tenn.), Gov. Bill Lee (R., Tenn.), Rep. David Kustoff (R., Tenn.), as well as by Scott Turner, the Secretary of Housing and Urban Development (HUD), Gady Serralta, the Director of the United States Marshals Service (USMS), Tennessee House Speaker Cameron Sexton, and Tyreece Miller, the U.S. Marshal for Tennessee.
“In 2024, Memphis had the highest violent crime rate in the country,” Bondi noted. “No longer, thanks to the leadership of President Trump and our dedicated men and women in law enforcement.”
The outlet said that Bondi was asked about what she hoped state and local Democratic officials would take from the Memphis initiative.
“We want to help all governors, we want to help all mayors who need President Trump’s help,” Bondi told the outlet. “Look what we’ve done in D.C., look what Donald Trump’s leadership has done right here in Memphis. You don’t have to be in the same political party, clearly.
“This is about keeping Americans safe. If you want to talk to anyone, go out and talk to the residents of Memphis, who have been very vocal about what has been done by the leadership of all the people behind me and sitting in this audience to make their great city safe again. We want to help anyone regardless of political party,” she continued.
“Tolerating crime is a choice,” Bondi, who is Florida’s former attorney general, said. “This adminustration chooses law and order…We will not coddle violent criinals at the expense of law abiding citizens.”
“The numbers tell the story themselves,” Bondi said, noting that, over the past 56 days compared to the same time period a year ago, murders were down over 50 percent, sexual assault over 40 percent, and robberies around 60 percent.
In addition, she reported that 121 children had been located and returned to safety.
“Overall serious crime is down 45 percent…we are reversing the trend,” she said.
Tennessee’s federal and local officials supported Bondi’s statements, emphasizing that Memphis has the potential to serve as an example for cities throughout the United States.
“We have been tracking to the street level where violent crime has been happening in Memphis,” Sexton — the House Speaker — told the outlet. “The enhanced focus with the additional resources from the federal, state and local entities have lowered Memphis’s crime to a 20 year low in just 56 days.
“Public safety should not be a partisan issue, we all should want our children to feel safe to ride their bikes and experience freedom and peace,” Sexton noted further.
“We want Memphis to be the safest city in the country,” Blackburn said during Bondi’s event. “We know this will be a longterm effort…Memphis can be the model for the rest of the country on how you come together as a team, how you fight violent crime, how you don’t stop and you don’t give up, but you keep getting these results.”
As for Gov. Lee, seeing the success of the Trump administration’s anti-crime push is a personal matter, the Reporter noted.
Describing himself as ““a seventh-generation Tennessean, as someone who’s lived here my entire life, who’s loved the city of Memphis, whose grandparents lived six blocks from the river,” crime has placed a “burden…on this city for far too long. This is Thanksgiving week, and this is a governor who has a deep debt of gratitude” for those who have kept it safe during a “historic” moment for Memphis.