Maryland Gov. Wes Moore defended his rhetoric in opposition to President Donald Trump over crime in his residence metropolis of Baltimore amid an escalating feud between the 2 leaders.
“I’ve no real interest in preventing with the president, however I’ve an curiosity in preventing for my communities and preventing for our folks,” Moore informed ABC Information’ “This Week” co-anchor Martha Raddatz in an interview that aired Sunday.
Earlier this month, Trump provided to ship the Nationwide Guard into different cities throughout the nation after his legislation enforcement surge into Washington, D.C., calling Baltimore “thus far gone.” Moore responded by formally inviting the president to affix him and Baltimore officers on a public security stroll.
After the 2 continued to commerce barbs on social media, Trump rebuked the invitation and renewed his menace to ship the Nationwide Guard into Baltimore, calling town a “hellhole” within the Oval Workplace on Tuesday.
ABC Information’ Martha Raddatz walks the streets of Baltimore with Maryland Governor Wes Moore.
Julia Cherner/ABC Information
“Wes Moore was telling me he desires — ‘I need to stroll with the president.’ Nicely, I stated, ‘I need to stroll with you, too, sometime. However first you have to clear up your crime,” Trump stated.
Baltimore, like many of the U.S., has seen a drop in crime and homicides lately, however stays one of many nation’s most violent cities. It had the fifth highest fee of violent crime and fourth highest homicide fee per capita in cities with a minimum of 100,000 folks final 12 months, in line with current FBI information.
Whereas Moore acknowledged there may be nonetheless “work to do there,” he touted the progress the state has made and referred to as out the president’s feedback.
ABC Information’ Martha Raddatz sits down with Maryland Governor Wes Moore in Baltimore.
Julia Cherner/ABC Information
“It could simply be nice if we may have a president of the US to really perceive that this is likely one of the nice American turnaround tales that is occurring proper now, and we’d love the assistance to have the ability to proceed to try this work as an alternative of this — boastful criticism and cynicism that he continues to introduce into the dialog,” Moore stated.
Moore stated whereas he “would love extra federal assist,” he referred to as the Nationwide Guard deployment in Washington, D.C. “performative.”
Raddatz pressed Moore on the discount in crime in Washington for the reason that elevated federal presence that D.C. Mayor Muriel Bowser cited this week.
“You’ve got heard Mayor Bowser say [they’ve seen an] 87% discount in carjackings, robberies minimize by half. Why would not you need that right here, if that’s truly serving to?” Raddatz requested.
ABC Information’ Martha Raddatz speaks with Maryland Governor Wes Moore in Baltimore.
Nathan Luna/ABC Information
“If the president of the US have been to have a severe dialog with me and say, what can we do — significantly whenever you take a look at the price of the Nationwide Guard of nicely over one million {dollars} a day?” Moore responded. “I’d inform him issues like, we’d like to ensure we’re growing funding for native legislation enforcement.”
“Asking me to deploy my Nationwide Guard, people who find themselves not skilled for municipal policing, is simply not a severe strategy,” Moore added.
In posts on his social media platform, Trump has additionally resurfaced an issue over Moore’s army document. The New York Occasions reported last year that Moore falsely claimed to have been awarded a Bronze Star in a 2006 White Home utility. Throughout his 2022 marketing campaign, clips of Moore being launched as a Bronze Star recipient and never correcting the interviewers in 2008 and 2010 surfaced.
Moore had been really helpful for the medal however didn’t obtain it till final 12 months and has called it an “trustworthy mistake.”
Governor Wes Moore formally receives the Bronze Star Medal in a ceremony on the Governors Mansion in Annapolis, Maryland, on Dec. 20, 2024. Lt. Normal Michael Fenzel, United States Coordinator to Israel and Palestinian Authority pins the bronze star medal on Governor Wes Moore.
Marvin Joseph/The Washington Put up by way of Getty Photos, FILE
In response, Moore referred to as Trump “President Bone Spurs” in a post on X, referencing Trump’s medical deferment from the Vietnam draft.
Moore stated about his submit: “When the president desires to assault my army document as somebody who’s truly a embellished fight veteran, as somebody who truly has served abroad, as somebody who has defended the nation, I simply suppose that if the president desires to have an actual debate about public service and concerning the sacrifice for this nation, he ought to actually sit that debate out. I am not the one he desires to have it with.”
Requested why he put the Bronze Star on his 2006 utility, Moore informed Raddatz he “did not give it some thought” since his commanding officers informed him to incorporate it.
“I feel it is fairly widespread information or widespread perception that when your, when your commanding officers, and your superior officers let you know, ‘Pay attention, we put you in, and we have gone by way of every thing, in order you are going by way of your utility, embody it.'” Moore stated. “I included it, and I did not give it some thought.”
Pressed on why he did not appropriate the interviewers after they wrongly launched him, Moore stated “Even on the time of these interviews, it wasn’t one thing I thought of.”
“Now I am grateful that the army, after they discovered that the paperwork was misplaced and did not course of [it], that they got here again and awarded me the Bronze Star,” Moore stated. “So I do have a Bronze Star that I earned in Afghanistan and a Fight Motion Badge that I earned in Afghanistan. So I am happy with that, however that is not why I served.”
“However do you remorse not correcting whenever you have been launched that approach?” Raddatz requested.
“I do not remorse not going again and constantly wanting over my service data. I do not. I am grateful for the service I did. I am grateful for the truth that I had the chance to steer troopers in fight, what a small fraction of this folks of this nation will ever perceive,” Moore responded.
Governor of Maryland Wes Moore speaks onstage throughout the 2025 ESSENCE Competition Of Tradition at Ernest N. Morial Conference Heart in New Orleans.
Arturo Holmes/Getty Photos for ESSENCE, FILE
Moore’s nationwide profile has risen from his public conflict with the president and a few have drawn comparisons to California Gov. Gavin Newsom’s brash model.
Requested how Democrats ought to strategy taking up Trump, Moore stated the celebration ought to “transfer with the type of aggression that’s vital.”
“The Democrats haven’t got a messaging downside, there is a outcomes downside. The Democrats should ship outcomes and cease being the celebration of no and sluggish and begin being the celebration of sure and now as a result of the frustration that individuals have, it’s actual,” Moore stated.
Whereas hypothesis mounts about his future presidential ambitions, Moore stated he is targeted on delivering outcomes for Marylanders.
“You have to concentrate on defending your folks proper now and the problems that the folks in our states are dealing with, and that is the place I do know my focus is,” Moore stated.
