Moore’s comments came after a back-and-forth between him and Trump regarding Baltimore’s crime rate. When Trump deployed federal troops in Washington, D.C., he also highlighted crime in Baltimore. 

Moore reiterated he would not activate the Maryland National Guard and wrote a letter to Trump, inviting the president to join him for a public safety walk in September to show Baltimore’s progress in lowering crime. 

“If there’s anything Maryland has proven over the last two years, it’s that we can achieve performance without being performative,” Moore said. “Progress requires the right tool for the right mission. Asking the patriotic citizen soldiers of our National Guard to police our cities doesn’t meet that test.”

Trump responded to Moore’s invitation, saying he “would much prefer that [Moore] clean up this Crime disaster before I go there for a ‘walk.’”

Baltimore ranked third in “violent crime” per capita, which is 347.3% above the national rate, according to FBI crime data released in 2024. 

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Moore said in the Thursday Fox News interview that the only federal support he “questions” is the deployment of the National Guard. 

“We would love to have additional support for license plate readers, things that we know that can actually stop crimes as they’re happening and making sure people are brought to justice,” Moore said. “And not have $30 million cut from public safety budgeting that is coming from the federal government.” 

Baltimore recorded 68 homicides this year, as of July 1. The midyear Baltimore Police Department report said this was a 22% year-over-year decrease in homicide and 19% decrease in nonfatal shootings. 

The Maryland governor also said he would love to see the federal government ban ghost guns, as well as investments in local law enforcement. 

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Moore said safety was one of the reasons he ran for governor. 

“When I became the governor, I said our No. 1 priority was going to be public safety,” Moore said. “While we still have very real work to do, we are also very clear that the results we have started to see in the past 2 1/2 years are deeply encouraging.”

According to a new Harvard Center for American Political Studies-Harris poll, a majority of people support Trump’s actions in Washington, with 54% saying it’s “justified” and “necessary.” The poll was conducted online from Aug. 20-21 among 2,025 registered voters within the United States.