Kentucky Congressman James Comer has been among the most outspoken in the state's federal delegation, telling Newsmax he sees the actions — described by the administration as a crackdown on crime — as an experiment that could be replicated in other cities.
"It's out of control, so the president had to send in the National Guard," he said. "I think that you've seen just in the last 24 hours a huge decline in crime. We're gonna support doing this in other cities if it works out in Washington, D.C."
Comer specifically pointed to Democratic cities as other locations where the president should consider intervening. Congressman Andy Barr also lauded Trump's actions, saying the president will "save" DC and he's with the president "all the way."
One Kentucky Republican showing some hesitation is Rep. Thomas Massie, who wrote that he's all for cracking down on crime in DC, but "arresting law abiding citizens and confiscating their firearms solely because they don't have government paperwork will not ultimately improve public safety."
The state's lone Democrat on Capitol Hill, Morgan McGarvey, described the DC crackdown as a "blatant authoritarian power grab based on lies."
Statistics published by Washington's Metropolitan Police contradict the president and show violent crime has dropped in Washington since a post-pandemic peak in 2023, according to the Associated Press.