ANNAPOLIS, Md. (WBFF) — Maryland Gov. Wes Moore said he will not authorize the deployment of the Maryland National Guard to combat crime in areas like Baltimore City during two nationally televised news interviews, while the Baltimore police union and the White House say that the governor cannot have it both ways.
After having a limited public availability in Maryland over the past two weeks, Moore appeared on a primetime interview on Tuesday night on MSNBC’s The Briefing with Jen Psaki. Maryland’s governor also appeared on CNN’s Anderson Cooper 360.
I want to be very clear to anyone who is listening,” Moore said on MSNBC. “I will not authorize the usage of the Maryland National Guard for any mission that I do not deem to be mission critical or mission aligned.”
“I will not authorize it, and it will not happen,” Moore added.
Mike Mancuso, president of the Baltimore City Lodge #3 for the Fraternal Order of Police, told Spotlight on Maryland by text shortly after Moore’s comments that the governor’s comments seemed to be solely politically motivated and aligned with his political party, the Democrats.
“I wouldn’t expect Gov. Wes Moore to do anything but refuse help from President Trump based on his past comments,” Mancuso said. “Blue states seem to be okay with the federal government taking control through consent decrees.”
“Either you want the feds or not,” Mancuso added.
The Baltimore Police Department has been under a federal consent decree since April 2017.
Meanwhile, Abigail Jackson, the White House deputy press secretary, told Spotlight on Maryland on Tuesday night that public safety is not a political issue.
What’s truly embarrassing and heartbreaking is how long Democrat leaders have allowed violent crime to surge out of control in cities without taking action,” Jackson said. “It’s heartbreaking that in Washington, D.C., innocent people are robbed, assaulted, and killed far too often.
The White House spokesperson told Spotlight on Maryland, “This is why Democrats continue to be so unpopular among everyday Americans.”
“They do not support common-sense policies to address crime that American families and businesses support,” Jackson said.
While Trump did not invoke the Insurrection Act of 1807, the president did federalize nearly 4,000 National Guard troops in June in Los Angeles to suppress civil unrest related to federal immigration enforcement activities.
Trump announced on Monday the deployment of the National Guard and the federalization of the Metropolitan Police Department in Washington, D.C.
Spotlight on Maryland asked Moore’s office after the MSNBC interview on Tuesday night to clarify whether the governor will refuse any attempts by Trump to federalize the National Guard and how he plans to fulfill his promise if the White House enacts the Insurrection Act.
David Turner, a senior advisor and communications director for Moore, appeared to walk back the governor’s comments in a response sent late Tuesday night, comparing them to similar comments Moore made on CNN’s Anderson Cooper 360.
“The governor clearly stated he would not authorize the usage,” wrote Turner, including the italics.
When asked for further clarification and whether Moore would comply with a Trump order, Turner offered no additional comment and referred back to his previous response.
Crime statistics published by the Baltimore Police Department showed the city experienced a double-digit decline in gun violence in 2024. According to Baltimore police data, homicides decreased by 23%, from 261 murders to 201. Non-fatal shootings also fell by 34%, from 635 reported incidents in 2023 to 414 in 2024. The decline in murders and non-fatal shootings in Baltimore aligns with a minimum two-year national trend, including a similar decrease seen in Washington, D.C.
Despite these improvements, FBI data still shows Baltimore ranked in the top three in the nation with the highest homicide rate.
Residents of Baltimore and Washington, D.C., have also consistently told Spotlight on Maryland that, despite these reported statistical decreases, they do not feel safe from juvenile-driven violence.
Juvenile crime statistics are not reported in the same way as adult crime data because of confidentiality laws enacted after juvenile justice reforms that followed the national “defund the police” movement.
These actions were triggered by large demonstrations, some of which turned violent, following the deaths of Freddie Gray in Baltimore and George Floyd in Minneapolis while in police custody.
None of the officers charged in Gray’s death were found guilty. Several officers involved in Floyd’s arrest were convicted on various charges related to the incident, including Minneapolis police officer Derek Chauvin, who was convicted of second-degree unintentional murder.
Moore praised the statistical crime decreases in Baltimore on MSNBC on Tuesday night.
“Let me not bury the lead: We were able to do that without the National Guard in order to make that happen,” Moore said.
Mancuso said the federal government’s role in fighting crimes and supporting law enforcement on Baltimore’s streets daily is something the governor might be missing.
The federal government is very much involved in the crime fight daily, in Maryland and in Baltimore City,” Mancusco said. “Both with agents on the ground and a federal consent decree in Baltimore.”
The Baltimore FOP’s opposition to Moore’s comments comes as D.C. Police Union chairman Greggory Pemberton told 7News, Spotlight on Maryland’s media partner in the nation’s capital, early on Tuesday, that he welcomes help from the federal government to fight crime in the nation’s capital. Pemberton said he is concerned that assistance from the National Guard and other federal authorities is only temporary.
“The staffing level in the [MPD] is beyond crisis,” Pemberton said. “The president’s authority only lasts 30 days, and I think we all know that at the end of those 30 days, these federal agents and these National Guardsmen are going to pack up and move along.”
Pemberton said that unless Washington, D.C. enacts immediate legislative reform on policing and juvenile justice, the city’s police force “is going to be left holding the bag.”
“We’re still going to be short 800 officers,” Pemberton said. “We’re still not going to be able to handle crime, and the crime rate’s going to continue to creep back up.”
Mancuso said the Baltimore City FOP3 stands with the Washington, D.C. police union.
The crime fight is our business,” Mancuso said. “If that is what they think they need, so be it.”
The Baltimore Police Department currently has nearly 600 officer vacancies, according to public data. This shortage occurs as Baltimore continues to face challenges with the city’s flourishing open-air drug markets.
In early July, a mass overdose incident at Baltimore’s Penn North open-air drug market led to over two dozen people being hospitalized in the area.
Psaki, a former press secretary for President Joe Biden, asked on her MSNBC show what Moore thought of Trump “name-checking” cities controlled by Democrats.
These are places where the president has not spent time walking the streets,” Moore said. “The president has not walked the streets like I have, like I do on a regular basis. The president does not know regular Baltimoreans like I do.”
Spotlight on Maryland pressed Moore more than two weeks ago on when he planned to visit the mass overdose site at the open-air drug market in Baltimore’s Penn North. Maryland’s governor said, “Teams have been in place, you know, literally for weeks.”
“I have visited Penn and North multiple times during our administration,” Moore said in July. “It’s an incredibly important part of our state.”
Moore’s two primetime national media interviews occur within 48 hours of a Maryland Now poll showing his job performance rating plunged to 50%. The poll was conducted by Blended Public Affairs and the prominent Annapolis, Md., lobby firm Perry Jacobson.
The Democratic Governors Association called the poll results “silly.”
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Maryland state Del. Mark Fisher, R-Calvert County, said that Moore’s national appearances on Tuesday may be linked to the poll showing the governor’s approval slipping.
“Gov. Moore is too busy running for president, while running away from Maryland’s problems,” Fisher said.
Moore has repeatedly said he’s focused on Maryland rather than a potential presidential bid.
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Spotlight on Maryland is a collaboration between FOX45 News, WJLA in Washington, D.C., and The Baltimore Sun.
