Washington, DC, Attorney General Brian Schwalb (D) is bypassing the district’s skyrocketing crime to exhaust his office’s resources on investigating the Federalist Society’s Leonard Leo.
Late last month, Politico reported that Schwalb’s office had launched an investigation into Leo, who was influential in the nominations of all of former President Donald Trump’s Supreme Court justices.
“Washington D.C. Attorney General Brian Schwalb is investigating judicial activist Leonard Leo and his network of nonprofit groups, according to a person with direct knowledge of the probe,” Politico detailed. “The scope of the investigation is unclear.”
Federalist Society Executive Vice President Leonard Leo speaks to media at Trump Tower, Wednesday, Nov. 16, 2016, in New York. (AP Photo/Carolyn Kaster)
News of the investigation into Leo comes as D.C. crime surges, wreaking havoc on communities and residents living in the nation’s capital.
WASHINGTON, DC – AUGUST 24: Government watchdog Accountable.US places posters around the Federalist Society building to highlight news of DC Attorney General Brian Schwalb’s investigation into Leonard Leo’s nonprofit network on August 24, 2023 in Washington, DC. (Photo by Paul Morigi/Getty Images for Accountable.US)
Year-to-date crime statistics, as of September 12, show there have been 190 homicides in D.C. so far this year — up nearly 30 percent compared to the same period last year. Likewise, sex crimes are up six percent, assaults with dangerous weapons have increased three percent, and robberies have skyrocketed by 69 percent compared to last year.
Overall, there have been 1,000 more violent crime incidents across D.C. — up almost 40 percent — so far this year compared to 2022.
Chart via MPDC
Other crime categories have also increased. Motor vehicle thefts, for example, have increased a whopping 110 percent compared to the same period in 2022. Vehicle thefts are so high in D.C. that incidents had surpassed 5,000 before year’s end.
Other thefts and arson have increased as well. There have been nearly 9,000 thefts across D.C. so far this year, a 23 percent increase, and nine arson incidents, a 200 percent increase. The figures have helped tick up property crimes by 27 percent.
Altogether, crime in D.C. has increased almost 30 percent with close to 24,000 incidents from January 1 to September 12.
Despite the surge in crime, Schwalb has moved forward with his soft-on-crime agenda. Most significantly, Schwalb lobbied heavily to approve changes to the D.C. criminal code that reduced criminal penalties such as cutting maximum penalties for crimes like armed carjacking.
Reforms to DC’s 122 year-old criminal code—passed before women and Black residents enjoyed fundamental rights—are sorely needed.
— AG Brian Schwalb (@DCAttorneyGen) January 3, 2023
This bill will improve public safety and provide long overdue clarity and fairness in our justice system. RCCA should be the law of the District.
Though Mayor Muriel Bowser (D) opposed changes to the D.C. criminal code, along with many House and Senate Democrats as well as President Joe Biden, Schwalb authored a Washington Post op-ed asking Democrats to support the changes.
“… longer sentences — which disproportionately adversely impact Black and brown communities — do not make communities safer. Indeed, just the opposite,” Schwalb wrote in February.
Schwalb’s support for reducing criminal penalties in D.C. came as no surprise, as he has long claimed that tough-on-crime policies do not reduce crime.
“… the idea that increasing punishment and sanction is going to make us safer is something that I’m not sure the data or our history confirms,” Schwalb told DCist at the beginning of the year. “In fact, I think if we learn from our history, we know that oftentimes by trying to be very tough on crime and locking people up, we didn’t make ourselves safer as a community.”
John Binder is a reporter for Breitbart News. Email him at
