Moore again rejects federal troops, denies presidential aspirations while on ‘Meet the Press’

For a man who s not running for president Gov Wes Moore sure has been making the rounds of the national Sunday talk shows not long ago But there s also been plenty to talk about from vaccines to federal troop deployments Moore appearing Sunday on NBC s Meet the Press would not say he would wholly rule it out when appealed about a presidential bid but he did repeat his oft-stated assertion that he is not running for president in and is focused instead on seeking reelection next year as governor of Maryland I ll be serving a full term I m excited about reelection I m excited about what I m going to be able to do for the people of Maryland he commented in response to a question from moderator Kristen Welker before reciting a list of his administration s accomplishments It was similar to the discussion he had two weeks earlier on CBS Face the Nation when he volunteered that he is not running for president during a discussion of President Donald Trump saying Moore is not presidential timber Moore s residential aspirations did not come up on last week s This Week on ABC but he wasn t directly required about it What Moore has been inquired about in each appearance was the president s threat to send troops into Baltimore among other cities to respond to crime there Moore who on Friday released a surge of Maryland State Police into the city to help further bring down crime rates repeated his charge that Trump s proposal would be performative and ineffective He mentioned Guard members are not trained for law enforcement and noted that those deployed last month to Washington D C have been reduced in a few instances to raking mulch and picking up trash at what he noted is an estimated cost of million a day You know the president s proposed budget veritably cuts supports for the FBI and ATF Bureau of Alcohol Tobacco Firearms and Explosives bureaus which are things we in fact could use Moore stated When you re looking at the Big Beautiful Bill it authentically cuts million of funding for violence prevention programs that are happening in the city of Baltimore and across the state of Maryland Trump has revealed that the presence of federal troops has led to a drop in crimes that have made the District a safe zone D C Mayor Muriel Bowser has stated that crime was already at historic lows already but she just now credited the presence of federal troops with a further drop in crimes Moore acknowledged that crime is down in D C but noted it has fallen just as fast or faster in Baltimore during the same time frame without federal intervention If you re looking at the same time period of this D C occupation if you look at assaults with a deadly weapon they ve genuinely increased in D C by in Baltimore have decreased by he noted And on every other major indicator from homicide to carjacking you could say that Baltimore has truly had the same type of drop as Washington D C has had during this period And we didn t mobilize the National Guard for it What Moore did do was announce plans Friday for a renewed collaboration between the Baltimore City Police Department and the Maryland State Police We are proud of the progress that we ve been able to make and we re all very very concerned about how much work still requirements to happen Moore noted at the time flanked by Baltimore Mayor Brandon Scott and city and state police representatives If one person does not feel safe in their neighborhood that is one too multiple Source