马里兰州民主党州长韦斯·摩尔(Wes Moore)为他在家乡巴尔的摩针对唐纳德·特朗普(Donald Trump)总统的犯罪言论进行了辩护，因为两位领导人之间的争执不断升级。
“我对与总统斗争没有兴趣，但我有兴趣为我的社区和我们的人民而斗争，”摩尔在周日播出的采访中告诉美国广播公司新闻的“本周”联合主播玛莎·拉达茨。
本月早些时候，特朗普在华盛顿特区执法激增后，提出将国民警卫队派往全国其他城市，称巴尔的摩“到此为止”。摩尔的回应是正式邀请总统和他以及巴尔的摩官员一起参加公共安全步行。
在两人继续在社交媒体上相互攻击后，特朗普谴责了这一邀请，并再次威胁要派国民警卫队进入巴尔的摩，周二在椭圆形办公室称该市为“地狱”。
“韦斯·摩尔告诉我，他想——‘我想和总统一起散步。’嗯，我说，有一天我也想和你一起走。但首先你必须洗清你的罪行，”特朗普说。
像美国大部分地区一样，巴尔的摩近年来的犯罪率和凶杀率有所下降，但仍是美国最暴力的城市之一。根据美国联邦调查局最近的数据，去年，在至少有10万人的城市中，暴力犯罪率排名第五，人均谋杀率排名第四。
虽然摩尔承认仍有“工作要做”，但他吹捧该州取得的进展，并呼吁总统的评论。
摩尔说:“如果我们有一位美国总统能够真正理解这是目前正在发生的伟大的美国转折故事之一，那就太好了，我们希望能够继续做这项工作，而不是他继续在对话中引入的傲慢的批评和冷嘲热讽。”
摩尔说，虽然他“希望得到更多的联邦支持”，但他称华盛顿特区的国民警卫队部署是“表演性的”
自从华盛顿特区民主党市长穆里尔·布瑟本周提到联邦政府的存在增加以来，拉达茨就华盛顿的犯罪减少问题向摩尔施压。
“你已经听到布瑟市长说[他们已经看到]劫车案减少了87%，抢劫案减少了一半。如果这真的有帮助的话，你为什么不希望它在这里呢?”拉达茨问道。
“如果美国总统与我进行一次严肃的对话，并问我，我们能做些什么——特别是当你看到国民警卫队每天的费用远远超过100万美元时?”摩尔回应道。“我会告诉他这样的事情，我们需要确保增加对当地执法部门的资金投入。”
“要求我部署我的国民警卫队，那些没有接受过市政警察训练的人，并不是一个严肃的方法，”摩尔补充道。
市长布瑟表示，联邦执法部门支持当地警察的激增对减少犯罪有好处，他在本周的新闻发布会上表示，“我们非常感谢警察的激增。”但是她说国民警卫队的使用“效率不高”
“我们所知道的是，不起作用的是警察和社区之间信任的破裂，特别是与社区中新的联邦伙伴的信任，”布瑟周三说。“我们知道，在社区中使用蒙面冰毒没有效果，来自其他州的国民警卫队也没有有效利用这些资源。”
在他的社交媒体平台上，特朗普还重新提起了关于摩尔军事记录的争议。《纽约时报》去年报道的摩尔在2006年的白宫申请中谎称被授予铜星勋章。在他2022年的竞选活动中，摩尔被介绍为青铜星章获得者，并且在2008年和2010年没有纠正面试官的片段浮出水面。
摩尔曾被推荐获得该奖章，但直到去年他才获得该奖章称之为一个“诚实的错误”
作为回应，摩尔在一篇文章中称特朗普为“骨刺总统”在X上发布，指的是特朗普的医疗延期从越南草案。
摩尔在谈到他的职位时说:“当总统想要攻击我的军事记录时，他实际上是一个获得勋章的战斗老兵，实际上是一个在海外服役的人，一个保卫国家的人，我只是认为，如果总统想要就公共服务和为这个国家做出的牺牲进行一场真正的辩论，他真的应该退出这场辩论。他不想和我在一起。”
当被问及为什么在2006年的申请中加入青铜星章时，摩尔告诉拉达茨，他“没有考虑过”，因为他的指挥官告诉他要加入。
“我认为这是一个相当普遍的知识或普遍的信念，当你的，当你的指挥官和你的上级告诉你，‘听着，我们让你加入，我们已经通过了所有的事情，所以当你通过你的申请时，包括它。’”摩尔说我收录了，也没想。"
当被问及为什么当面试官错误地介绍他时他没有纠正时，摩尔说“即使在那些面试的时候，我也没有想到这一点。”
“现在我很感谢军方，在他们发现文件丢失并且没有处理(它)之后，他们回来授予我铜星勋章，”摩尔说。“所以我有一枚在阿富汗获得的铜星勋章和一枚在阿富汗获得的战斗行动徽章。所以我为此感到自豪，但这不是我服役的原因。”
"但是当你被这样介绍时，你后悔没有纠正吗?"拉达茨问道。
“我不后悔没有回去，并坚持查看我的服务记录。我不知道。我感谢我所做的服务。我很感激我有机会带领士兵作战，这个国家的一小部分人会明白这一点，”摩尔回应道。
摩尔的国家形象因他与总统的公开冲突而上升绘制比较加州州长加文·纽瑟姆的傲慢风格。
当被问及民主党应该如何应对特朗普时，摩尔表示，该党应该“采取必要的侵略行动。”
“民主党没有传递信息的问题，而是结果的问题。摩尔说:“民主党必须拿出成果，不再是说不和慢的政党，而开始成为说是的政党，因为现在人们的沮丧是真实的。
虽然对他未来总统抱负的猜测越来越多，但摩尔说他专注于为马里兰人带来成果。
摩尔说:“你现在必须专注于保护你的人民，以及我们各州人民面临的问题，这是我知道我的重点所在。”
Moore: 'I have no interest in fighting with the president, but I have an interest in fighting for my communities'
Maryland Democratic Gov. Wes Moore defended his rhetoric against President Donald Trump over crime in his home city of Baltimore amid an escalating feud between the two leaders.
"I have no interest in fighting with the president, but I have an interest in fighting for my communities and fighting for our people," Moore told ABC News' "This Week" co-anchor Martha Raddatz in an interview that aired Sunday.
Earlier this month, Trump offered to send the National Guard into other cities across the country after his law enforcement surge into Washington, D.C., calling Baltimore "so far gone." Moore responded by formally inviting the president to join him and Baltimore officials on a public safety walk.
After the two continued to trade barbs on social media, Trump rebuked the invitation and renewed his threat to send the National Guard into Baltimore, calling the city a "hellhole" in the Oval Office on Tuesday.
"Wes Moore was telling me he wants -- 'I want to walk with the president.' Well, I said, 'I want to walk with you, too, someday. But first you've got to clean up your crime," Trump said.
Baltimore, like most of the U.S., has seen a drop in crime and homicides in recent years, but remains one of the country's most violent cities. It had the fifth-highest rate of violent crime and fourth-highest murder rate per capita in cities with at least 100,000 people last year, according to recent FBI data.
While Moore acknowledged there is still "work to do there," he touted the progress the state has made and called out the president's comments.
"It would just be great if we could have a president of the United States to actually understand that this is one of the great American turnaround stories that's happening right now, and we would love the help to be able to continue to do that work instead of this -- arrogant criticism and cynicism that he continues to introduce into the conversation," Moore said.
Moore said while he "would love more federal support," he called the National Guard deployment in Washington, D.C. "performative."
Raddatz pressed Moore on the reduction in crime in Washington since the increased federal presence that D.C. Democratic Mayor Muriel Bowser cited this week.
"You've heard Mayor Bowser say [they've seen an] 87% reduction in carjackings, robberies cut by half. Why wouldn't you want that here, if that is actually helping?" Raddatz asked.
"If the president of the United States were to have a serious conversation with me and say, what can we do -- particularly when you look at the cost of the National Guard of well over a million dollars a day?" Moore responded. "I would tell him things like, we need to make sure we're increasing funding for local law enforcement."
"Asking me to deploy my National Guard, people who are not trained for municipal policing, is just not a serious approach," Moore added.
Mayor Bowser said there have been benefits in reducing crime from the surge in federal law enforcement to support local police, saying at a press conference this week that “we greatly appreciate the surge of officers.” But she has said the use of National Guard troops “hasn’t been efficient.”
“What we know is not working is a break in trust between police and community, especially with new federal partners in community,” Bowser said Wednesday. “We know having masked ICE agents in the community has not worked, and National Guards from other states has not been an efficient use of those resources.”
In posts on his social media platform, Trump has also resurfaced a controversy over Moore's military record. The New York Timesreported last yearthat Moore falsely claimed to have been awarded a Bronze Star in a 2006 White House application. During his 2022 campaign, clips of Moore being introduced as a Bronze Star recipient and not correcting the interviewers in 2008 and 2010 surfaced.
Moore had been recommended for the medal but did not receive it until last year and hascalled itan "honest mistake."
In response, Moore called Trump "President Bone Spurs" in apost on X, referencing Trump's medical deferment from the Vietnam draft.
Moore said about his post: "When the president wants to attack my military record as someone who's actually a decorated combat veteran, as someone who actually has served overseas, as someone who has defended the country, I just think that if the president wants to have a real debate about public service and about the sacrifice for this country, he should really sit that debate out. I'm not the one he wants to have it with."
Asked why he put the Bronze Star on his 2006 application, Moore told Raddatz he "didn't think about it" since his commanding officers told him to include it.
"I think it's pretty common knowledge or common belief that when your, when your commanding officers, and your superior officers tell you, 'Listen, we put you in, and we've gone through everything, so as you're going through your application, include it.'" Moore said. "I included it, and I didn't think about it."
Pressed on why he didn't correct the interviewers when they wrongly introduced him, Moore said "Even at the time of those interviews, it wasn't something I thought about."
"Now I'm thankful that the military, after they found out that the paperwork was lost and didn't process [it], that they came back and awarded me the Bronze Star," Moore said. "So I do have a Bronze Star that I earned in Afghanistan and a Combat Action Badge that I earned in Afghanistan. So I'm proud of that, but that's not why I served."
"But do you regret not correcting when you were introduced that way?" Raddatz asked.
"I don't regret not going back and consistently looking over my service records. I don't. I'm thankful for the service I did. I'm grateful for the fact that I had the opportunity to lead soldiers in combat, what a small fraction of this people of this country will ever understand," Moore responded.
Moore's national profile has risen from his public clash with the president and some havedrawn comparisonsto California Gov. Gavin Newsom's brash style.
Asked how Democrats should approach taking on Trump, Moore said the party should "move with the kind of aggression that is necessary."
"The Democrats don't have a messaging problem, there's a results problem. The Democrats have to deliver results and stop being the party of no and slow and start being the party of yes and now because the frustration that people have, it is real," Moore said.
While speculation mounts about his future presidential ambitions, Moore said he's focused on delivering results for Marylanders.
"You've got to focus on protecting your people right now and the issues that the people in our states are facing, and that's where I know my focus is," Moore said.
