ABC News anchor Kyra Phillips has revealed she was attacked by a “half-dressed” homeless man in downtown Washington, D.C., sharing her experience on air as President Donald Trump intensifies efforts to combat crime and homelessness in the capital.
Phillips described the incident, which occurred two blocks from her bureau, stating the man “wasn’t in his clear mind.” She said she fought back, fearing for her safety, and noted that many residents are witnessing crime firsthand despite official statistics showing a decline.
“In downtown DC, where we work, right here around our bureau, just in the past six months, there were two people shot, one person died, literally two blocks down here from the bureau,” Phillips said. She added that a colleague’s car was stolen just a block away that morning.
President Trump’s recent executive order placed D.C. under federal command and deployed the National Guard, which Phillips said would “help clean up homelessness.” The White House reported 37 arrests on the first night, including four narcotics charges and the seizure of 11 illegal guns.
However, crime statistics from the Metropolitan Police Department show violent crime in D.C. has fallen steadily from its 2023 peak, reaching a 30-year low in 2024 and continuing to decline in 2025. Violent crime is down 26% year-on-year for the first eight months of 2025, with robbery down 28%.
Trump’s critics accused him of creating a distraction from the administration’s handling of documents related to Jeffrey Epstein. The Justice Department recently stated there was no list of Epstein’s associates and that no further disclosure was warranted, drawing backlash from Trump’s supporters.
