Maryland Governor Wes Moore and President Donald Trump have been trading public statements over crime in Baltimore, with their dispute getting more personal in recent days. The disagreement started after Trump deployed National Guard troops to Washington, D.C., and suggested he could do the same in other cities.
The conflict began when Moore criticized Trump’s decision to deploy National Guard troops for local policing in the nation’s capital. Trump has called this effort successful, claiming crime has dropped to zero in D.C. since the deployment. Moore called the president’s approach “purely performative” and said it lacks the right tools for the job.
According to The Hill, during a Tuesday appearance on CNN’s “The Source with Kaitlan Collins,” Moore made his most direct comment about the president yet. “The president seems to be obsessed with me,” Moore said. “Today he called me a beauty, and when I first met him, he just talked about how I was a good looking guy.” Moore added that Trump “just continues to make statements that are just flat out false about our state’s largest city.”
Trump claims fake conversation with Maryland governor
The latest back-and-forth came after Trump claimed during a White House meeting that Moore had called him “the greatest president of my lifetime.” However, video footage from Fox News shows that this conversation never happened. The actual meeting between the two men took place at an Army-Navy football game in Maryland in December 2024.
Wes Moore on Donald Trump claiming he called him the greatest president of his lifetime: “That imaginary conversation he revealed from the White House not only did not happen, but unfortunately it’s just a consistent thread and a consistent theme we are seeing from the president… pic.twitter.com/l9h8Oso1lo
— Marco Foster (@MarcoFoster_) August 26, 2025
In the real conversation caught on camera, Moore welcomed Trump back to Maryland and talked about getting federal money to rebuild the Francis Scott Key Bridge. Moore told Trump the state could finish the project “on time, on budget” if they got the needed funding. Trump responded by saying, “We’ll help you out.”
Moore has firmly denied Trump’s version of events, calling the president’s memory “absolutely comical.” The governor said he knows it’s “breaking news to everybody, but the president is not telling the truth.” Moore’s response comes as Trump continues to make questionable claims about various political opponents and situations.
Baltimore crime statistics show major improvements
The dispute centers around Trump’s description of Baltimore as a “hell hole” and “crime ridden.” Trump wrote on Truth Social that Moore should “clean up this crime disaster” before he would visit the city. He also threatened to rethink federal funding for the Key Bridge rebuild, writing, “I will now have to rethink that decision.”
However, crime statistics show Baltimore has been making significant progress. The city recorded 68 homicides in the first six months of 2025, down 22% from the same period in 2024. This represents the fewest homicides in over 50 years for that time period. Non-fatal shootings also dropped 19% during the same period.
Moore invited Trump to walk the streets of Baltimore to see the reality on the ground. “In Maryland and in Baltimore, you will find people who share the same commitment to public safety that I have and who want to be part of the solution, not the problem,” Moore wrote in his invitation. The governor has also pushed back against Trump’s broader political battles with Democratic governors across the country.
