President Donald Trump claims that U.S. troops have engaged in hand-to-hand combat with young members of the Venezuelan gang Tren de Aragua on the streets of Washington, D.C. But Joint Task Force–District of Columbia, the umbrella organization for the military occupation of the nation’s capital, says it never happened.

Trump’s outlandish claim — that National Guard members beat child gang members — is one of numerous demonstrably false claims peddled by the president concerning the deployment of military troops, including that there is now “no crime” in the district. It’s part of a raft of lies Trump has used to paint America’s cities as war-torn wastelands and justify urban military occupations. These blatant falsehoods have increasingly drawn the ire of the federal judiciary.

“You saw it in Washington,” Trump announced in an address to hundreds of top military officers late last month. “We had gangs of Tren de Aragua, say 10, 12, 15 kids. And these military guys walk up to them, and they treat them with disrespect, and they just got pounded.” After twice more reiterating that U.S. troops “pounded” gang members, Trump claimed the suspects were “thrown into paddy wagons and taken back to their country.”

JTF–DC spokesperson Alexia Nal says that troops deployed on the streets of the capital have never engaged in combat with any suspected criminals. “Nope. We’re not allowed to,” she told The Intercept, stating that service members cannot put their hands on people. One defense official, speaking on the condition of anonymity, called Trump’s claim “obvious bullshit.” Two more government officials laughed when The Intercept brought the president’s story to their attention. “Of course not. Not a chance,” one of them said when asked if there was any possibility that Trump’s account was based on a real incident.

“President Trump’s false and inflammatory justifications for deploying federal agents and National Guard troops to vibrant American cities may keep shifting, but the truth does not,” Hina Shamsi, the director of the American Civil Liberties Union’s national security project, told The Intercept. “There’s simply no emergency to justify deploying federal forces to Washington D.C. or any other city the president wrongly paints as a hellscape.”

The White House did not respond to questions about the supposed assault of members of Tren de Aragua; whether the supposed gang members were, in fact, children; and if the president was suggesting members of Tren de Aragua were driven by “paddy wagon” to Venezuela.

Trump’s fabricated tale of combat on the capital’s streets are mirrored by his clearly false claims about crime in Washington since troops began their occupation of the city in August. “D.C. is now a no — it’s a free crime city. We have no crime in D.C. … It took me 12 days,” Trump announced early last month, also referencing Tren de Aragua in those remarks.

Trump reiterated those boasts more recently. “We’ve got no crime,” Trump claimed last week. “It took 12 days to solve the problem. And we’re going to do that in Chicago, we’re going to do that in Portland.” The remarks came only hours after D.C.’s Metropolitan Police Department announced the victims of two........

© The Intercept