President Donald Trump dined at Joe’s Seafood, Prime Steak & Stone Crab in Washington, DC, Tuesday night, his first foray to an outdoor eatery within the district since taking workplace in January.
Trump has eschewed the capital’s restaurant scene since returning to Washington, selecting as an alternative to dine on the White Home or sometimes at his close by golf membership in Sterling, Virginia. He was joined Tuesday by Secretary of State Marco Rubio, Vice President JD Vance and Protection Secretary Pete Hegseth.
Upon getting into the restaurant, Trump was met with applause from diners. The president remarked to the group gathered within the eating room that DC is “a secure metropolis” and that they need to “take pleasure in” themselves.
“We’ve a secure metropolis, in order that’s good. Take pleasure in your self. You gained’t be mugged going residence,” the president remarked to diners.
As Trump was sitting right down to dine, he was approached by protesters chanting “Free DC” and “Free Palestine.”
In video obtained by CNN, a handful of protesters start chanting, “Free DC, free Palestine, Trump is the Hitler of our time” because the president makes his means by the eating room. The protesters are booed by others eating within the restaurant, and the president in the end got here inside a couple of ft of the protesters earlier than the video ends.
CNN witnessed the protesters being faraway from the venue as they continued to chant.
Chatting with reporters exterior the restaurant earlier than he entered, Trump mentioned his administration’s crackdown on DC crime was instrumental in his choice to dine out and instructed he’d announce an operation in one other metropolis as quickly as tomorrow.
“We’ll be saying one other metropolis that we’re going to very shortly — we’re working it out,” Trump mentioned. “The governor of a sure state would love us to be there, and the mayor of a sure metropolis in that very same state would love us to be there. We’ll announce it in all probability tomorrow, and it’s going to be one thing the place we’ll do like we did right here.”
Trump has repeatedly waffled on whether or not he would ship federal troops to Democratic-controlled cities like Chicago and Baltimore, and he enjoys distinctive authority in DC, which isn’t a state. He hailed his personal efforts there simply earlier than sitting down for dinner.
“I wouldn’t have completed this three months in the past, 4 months in the past, I actually wouldn’t have completed it a 12 months in the past,” Trump mentioned. “This was one of the crucial unsafe cities within the nation. Now it’s as secure as there may be within the nation, so we’re right here with Cupboard members having dinner, and everyone ought to exit.”
A month after President Donald Trump’s administration effectively took over Washington, DC’s police division and surged federal regulation enforcement and troops throughout the capital, crime within the metropolis is down and a whole lot of individuals accused of being within the US illegally have been detained. However tourism numbers have declined, and a few eating places within the metropolis are hurting for purchasers, CNN has previously reported.
White Home Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt mentioned Trump and his crew “loved crab, shrimp, salad, steak, and dessert.”
“The meals was phenomenal and the service was improbable. Thanks, Joe’s!” she mentioned.
Erika Polmar, Government Director of the Unbiased Restaurant Coalition, praised Trump’s choice to dine out in DC and mentioned it “shouldn’t be his final.”
“It’s by no means been extra necessary for the Administration to acknowledge the necessary position eating places and bars play in communities throughout the nation,” she mentioned in a press release. “The fact on the bottom is hard. Reservations are down nationwide, prices stay excessive, and too many impartial eating places are working on razor-thin margins.”
In an interview with a local CBS affiliate in 2019, Joe’s Stone Crab proprietor Stephen Sawitz mentioned Trump would dine at their Miami location within the Nineties.
Privately, Trump has mentioned Joe’s has one of the best stone crabs, and he’s once in a while sourced crabs from the institution for his Mar-a-Lago membership, in accordance with a supply acquainted.
CNN’s Betsy Klein contributed to this report.
This story has been up to date with extra particulars.
