National Guard troops in DC are now armed, defense official says

Trump on Friday responded to reporters' questions whether he was open to releasing the Epstein files, now that they have been given to the House Oversight Committee.

"Some people shouldn't be here, but I'm in support of keeping it totally open. I couldn't care less. You got a lot of people that it could be mentioned in those files that don't deserve to be, people, because he knew everybody," Trump, who associated with Epstein, said.

The president claimed that the probe and call for transparency were a "Democratic hoax."

He then changed the subject to tout his administration's six months in office.

President Donald Trump made several off-the-cuff comments about his military deployment in Washington, D.C., to reduce crime during an Oval Office news conference on about World Cup events.

The president claimed that he was looking to bring the military to Chicago.

"Chicago's a mess. You have an incompetent mayor, grossly incompetent. And, we'll straighten that one out probably next. That'll be our next one after this," he said.

Trump claimed that people in Chicago were "screaming" for help.

"African American ladies, beautiful ladies are saying, please, President Trump, come to Chicago, please," Trump claimed, adding that he "did great with the Black vote."

During a radio show interview on Thursday, Trump said he was looking into bringing the military to Memphis.

President Donald Trump announced on Friday that the 2026 World Cup draw will take place at the Kennedy Center.

Trump called it a "tremendous honor" to host the event and said they are spending "a lot of money" on making the Kennedy Center "beautiful."

With him in the Oval Office for the announcement was FIFA President Gianni Infantino, who Trump said came from Italy for the news.

"The World Cup draw will set up the group stage of competition: 48 teams will play in 104 games across 16 North American cities from Seattle to Vancouver to Atlanta to Miami," Trump said.

President Donald Trump repeatedly touted his surge of federal law enforcement and military into the nation's capital on Friday and said that he would be requesting $2 billion from Congress for D.C. to be "beautified."

The president said the cleanup would focus on a 3-mile radius of the White House and Capitol.

"Congress is happy to do it, and we're going to wisely spend the money. We're doing it with Clark Construction, we're going to head out right from the Capitol and the White House and if you look at a circle and go about three miles out, it's going to be beautiful," he said.

"All those light problems. See the poles, they're rusting, and they got different lenses on top, if you look, I mean, just looking at so many different problems. And we're going to have this place beautified within a period of 12 months," Trump added.

-ABC News' Isabella Murray and Michelle Stoddart