Video News Clips: In Their Own Words

Elderly Democratic Lawmaker Can’t Walk A Few Feet Without Help

Screenshot/Rumble/C-SPAN

Democratic Washington, D.C., Del. Eleanor Holmes Norton appeared to require assistance to exit a podium during a Wednesday news conference on Capitol Hill.

Norton turned 88 on June 13 and has insisted that she is running for reelection, but her spokesperson told Axios on June 25 that “no decision has been made” about her seeking a 19th term in office. After delivering remarks against President Donald Trump’s crime crackdown in Washington, she grabbed onto an apparent aid for help walking behind her colleagues.

WATCH:

“President Trump has used D.C. residents as props in a political play to showcase his own power,” Norton said during her speech. “While the president claims that federal control of D.C. is necessary to combat crime, his own actions severely jeopardize public safety in the district.”

Norton also told Axios in April that she was mulling a bid for ranking member of the House Oversight Committee, but her office subsequently walked back her comments.

Norton has served as the district’s non-voting delegate since 1991. There have been some reports underscoring concerns over whether she is fit to continue serving in Congress.

Some anonymous House Democrats told Axios in June that Norton had become much less involved at work. One anonymous House Democrat told the outlet that Norton “reads what her staff puts in front of her,” adding that her office has now become “staff-driven.”

Trump announced on Aug. 11 that his administration was declaring a “public safety emergency,” deploying the National Guard and federally assuming control of the Metropolitan Police Department (MPD).

Democratic Washington, D.C., Mayor Muriel Bowser said during an Aug. 27 press conference that she was grateful for the increase of officers during Trump’s crackdown.

“We greatly appreciate the surge of officers that enhance what MPD has been able to do in this city … for carjackings, the difference between this period, this 20-day period of this federal surge, and last year represents a 87% reduction in carjackings in Washington, D.C.,” Bowser said.

The mayor issued an order Tuesday continuing Trump’s executive order of federal officers in the nation’s capital, which local law enforcement will cooperate with.

A White House official told Daily Caller White House correspondent Reagan Reese on Wednesday that there were 92 arrests in the district on Tuesday night, 40 of which were illegal aliens. Some of the arrests were also for violent crimes.