Washington, D.C. has become a war zone under Democrat control.
Violent criminals roam the streets with impunity while innocent victims pay the price.
And Jeanine Pirro delivered one savage attack on Democrats that had them seeing red.
U.S. Attorney Pirro unleashes fury over "predictable homicides"
U.S. Attorney for the District of Columbia Jeanine Pirro went nuclear on the Democrat-controlled D.C. Council during a press conference announcing charges against an 18-year-old accused of murdering two young people.¹
Naqwan Antonio Lucas faces 16 counts for the June 30 killing of 21-year-old congressional intern Eric Tarpinian-Jachym and separate charges for the July 4 murder of 17-year-old Zoey Kelley.¹
Pirro didn't mince words about who bears responsibility for these tragedies.
"Two innocent souls were taken from us in what I believe were predictable homicides based upon the behavior of these individuals and the records that everyone knew about," Pirro said.¹
She wasn't finished.
"The D.C. Council is more interested in protecting young criminals under the guise of protecting the innocence of youth," Pirro stated.¹ "It's time for them to start protecting the citizens of the district, because this is what we're ending up with."¹
What happened next shows just how bad things have gotten in D.C.
"We're having victims five blocks away, 79 rounds on the ground! This is normal behavior in D.C.," Pirro said.¹ "No more excuses from this council."¹
Pirro breaks with Swamp protocol and tells the truth
Most federal prosecutors play nice with local politicians.
Not Jeanine Pirro.
She called out the D.C. Council's failures by name during a nationally televised press conference.
That's not how the Swamp operates.
Career bureaucrats protect each other through careful diplomatic language and behind-closed-doors meetings.
Pirro torched that playbook.
She stood in front of cameras and accused elected Democrats of protecting criminals while innocent victims die.
"The D.C. Council is more interested in protecting young criminals under the guise of protecting the innocence of youth," Pirro stated.¹ "It's time for them to start protecting the citizens of the district, because this is what we're ending up with."¹
Career prosecutors would never dare say that publicly about local elected officials.
Pirro said it because it's true.
And Democrats are absolutely livid someone finally exposed their failed policies in front of the entire nation.
The crime scene Democrats don't want you to see
President Trump deployed the National Guard to Washington, D.C., in August after violent crime spiraled completely out of control under Democrat Mayor Muriel Bowser and the all-Democrat City Council.²
When the intern was murdered, three armed teenagers in a stolen black Acura were hunting for rival gang members near the convention center.³
They passed Eric Tarpinian-Jachym on a rental e-bike.
Within seconds, masked teens emerged from the car with two rifles and opened fire.³
At least 79 shell casings littered the scene.³
Tarpinian-Jachym, a UMass Amherst student studying politics and finance, had just started his summer internship in the office of Kansas Republican Rep. Ron Estes.⁴
His family said he overcame dyslexia to excel academically.⁴
He battled through a heart condition and recent surgery to achieve his dream of working on Capitol Hill.⁴
He was 21 years old with his whole life ahead of him.
Three teenagers with rap sheets stole that future in seconds.
Lucas and his accomplices cut his life short in a hail of 79 bullets five blocks from the convention center.
Eric's family buried their son knowing the system failed him.
The killers were already known to authorities.
Two other suspects in the case, 17-year-olds Kelvin Thomas and Jailen Lucas, both had prior violent criminal records in family court.⁵
All three teenage shooters had been given chance after chance by judges following the D.C. Council's soft-on-crime playbook.
GPS monitoring instead of jail cells.
Community supervision instead of consequences.
That's how the Swamp protects its failed ideology while young Americans like Eric pay with their lives.
D.C. Council defines 24-year-olds as "youth offenders"
Until Congress finally stepped in this September, D.C.'s Youth Rehabilitation Act treated anyone under 25 years old as a "youth offender."⁶
That meant judges could sentence violent criminals in their early twenties to probation instead of prison.⁶
Adults committing murder, armed robbery, and sexual assault got leniency designed for children.
Washington, D.C., maintained a juvenile offender age seven years higher than other major cities.⁷
The House passed the DC CRIMES Act to force D.C. to treat 18-year-olds as adults in the criminal justice system where they belong.⁶
Democrats treated this common-sense reform like Congress was imposing martial law.
Washington, D.C., recorded a homicide rate of 27.3 per 100,000 residents in 2025, the fourth-highest rate in the entire country.⁸
The nation's capital is more dangerous than Atlanta, Chicago, and Compton.
That's six times higher than New York City.⁸
If Washington, D.C., were classified as a state, it would have the highest murder rate in America.⁸
Think about that.
The capital city's murder rate is three times higher than Islamabad, Pakistan.⁸
Democrats running Washington, D.C., created a hellscape more dangerous than war-torn nations.
Democrats on the D.C. Council created this disaster with their radical criminal justice experiments.
They care more about criminals than kids like Eric Tarpinian-Jachym and Zoey Kelley.
Jeanine Pirro called them out publicly for their failures.
She didn't use diplomatic language or pull punches.
She told the truth about who's responsible for turning America's capital into a shooting gallery.
That's why Democrats are seeing red.
The Swamp can't stand outsiders who refuse to play by establishment rules and actually hold them accountable for their catastrophic policies.
¹ Mariane Angela, "Jeanine Pirro Goes Nuclear On Democratic-Led DC Council For 'Predictable Homicides,'" Daily Caller, October 30, 2025.
² "FACT: Yes, D.C. Crime Is Out of Control," The White House, August 11, 2025.
³ Dan Morse, "D.C. intern caught in barrage of gunshots in homicide case cited by Trump," The Washington Post, September 14, 2025.
⁴ "Family speaks out after UMass Amherst student, Capitol Hill intern killed in DC," WCVB, September 5, 2025.
⁵ Alexandra Koch, "DC police release name of third suspect in Capitol Hill intern murder, offer $50K reward," Fox News, September 6, 2025.
⁶ "All Info – H.R.4922 – 119th Congress (2025-2026): D.C. Criminal Reforms to Immediately Make Everyone Safe Act of 2025," Congress.gov, 2025.
⁷ "House Passes Oversight Committee Legislation to Make D.C. Safe Again," United States House Committee on Oversight and Government Reform, September 17, 2025.
⁸ "D.C. Crime Statistics 2025 | Official White House Data & Facts," The Global Statistics, August 18, 2025.
