US President Donald Trump said he did not want Prime Minister Narendra Modi and other world leaders who visited him to see the tents, graffiti and potholes near federal buildings in Washington DC, and ordered the cleaning up of the American capital.
“I didn’t want them to see tents. I didn’t want them to see graffiti. I didn’t want them to see broken barriers and potholes in the roads. And we had it looking beautiful,” Trump said.
Modi visited the White House on February 13 for a bilateral meeting with Trump, becoming the one of the earliest foreign leader hosted by the US president since his second-term inauguration in January.
Speaking at the Department of Justice on Friday, Trump emphasised his administration’s commitment to making the US capital a global showcase.
“We are cleaning up our city. We are cleaning up this great capital, and we are not going to have crime. We are not going to stand for crime. We are going to take the graffiti down, we are already taking the tents down, and we are working with the administration,” Trump said.
#WATCH | US President Donald Trump says, ” …We are cleaning up our city, this great capital, we are not going to have crime, we are going to take graffiti down, we have already taken tents down, we are working with administration…PM Modi of India, French President, UK PM,… pic.twitter.com/hlA5DiXyDB
— ANI (@ANI) March 14, 2025
Trump praised Washington DC Mayor Muriel Bowser for her role in the cleanup, highlighting that encampments near the State Department were removed swiftly.
“We said there are tents galore right opposite the State Department. They have to come down. And they took them down right away. So far, so good. We want to have a capital that can be the talk of the world,” he added.
The US president also revealed that he had personally reviewed the routes taken by Modi, French President Emmanuel Macron, and UK Prime Minister Keir Starmer during their visits over the past two weeks.
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“When Prime Minister Modi of India, the President of France, and all of these people… the Prime Minister of the United Kingdom came to see me, I had the route run. I didn’t want them to see tents. I didn’t want them to see graffiti. I didn’t want them to see broken barriers and potholes in the roads. And we had it looking beautiful,” Trump said.
“And we’re going to do that for the city, and we’re going to have a crime-free capital. When people come here, they’re not going to be mugged or shot or raped. They’re going to have a crime-free capital, again, it’s going to be cleaner and better and safer than it ever was and it’s not going to take us too long.”
Within less than a month of the start of Trump’s second term in the White House, he had hosted Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, Japanese Prime Minister Shigeru Ishiba and Jordan’s King Abdullah II.
French President Emmanuel Macron and UK Prime Minister Keir Starmer are among the other foreign leaders Trump has hosted in his second term so far.