Donald Trump posted a pic of me by my tent. Then a bulldozer arrived

When President Donald Trump saw something that was clearly disturbing him last Sunday, he was going to the Golf Club on his highway on the Washington DC – a homeless tent camp on a grass patch.

“The homeless should go out immediately,” he wrote, that morning, the real Social with four photos.

One of them showed a man sitting in a camp chair next to his tent, and finally I was Bill Theodie. Four days later, Mr. Theodie had to move after the President announced a pressure on the homelessness in the country’s capital.

“This is mine,” he said for the first time when I showed him the photo of Trump.

He continued: “This is crazy to go out of the window and take a picture of my picture, and then send it as a political vehicle in a negative way to send it on social media.”

On Monday, Trump announced that his administration will “remove homeless camps from our parks, beautiful, beautiful parks”.

Behind the podium in the White House press room, “We have slums here, we get rid of them,” he said.

After the announcement, BBC Verify decided to investigate the photographs of the President.

We match the visual tips in the paintings of the tents – including a bend on the road next to the grass area where they were thrown – a place in Google StreetView.

The camp was about 10 minutes of driving from the White House and was less than the BBC office in Washington – so I went there to see what happened to the president’s attention.

When I arrived, the local authorities warned people they could be forced to move soon.

I also found 66 -year -old Mr. Theodie from Missouri sitting in the same camp chair.

He had seen Trump driving before.

“The president’s highway is quite long,” Mr. Theodie said. “I saw you come here three times.”

“You know, I understand that he doesn’t want to see the chaos, so we’re out of our way to keep him clean. We’re not trying to disrespect the president or another person.”

He told me that he has been living on the site for years and has been working in construction despite the fact that he has been out of full -time employment since 2018. Normally it can only take a few shifts per month.

On Thursday, Mr. Theodie and other residents were told to pack and go immediately.

A local reporter, who was taken as a bulldozer, was sent to remove the tents and other items left behind.

“They said you had to pack or find it. They didn’t come to talk, go, go, go,” Mr. Theodie said.

DC Deputy Mayor of the Ministry of Health and Human Services Wayne Turnage, city officials previously removed the camps in the capital, he said.

He said he usually made at least one week of notification, but after Trump’s announcement, the process was watched quickly.

According to the local authority, the homeless camp was the largest in the city – 11 people living with one of the main routes of Washington DC.

Before the latest pressures, there were 97 people living in homeless camps this year, which decreased in 2023 than 294.

The estimated person who lived homelessly was 5,138 from 5,613 in 2024 this year. According to the city’s annual instance image.

Latest data from the Community PartnershipAn organization that works to reduce homelessness shows that approximately 800 people are unprotected and about 4,300 people have some kind of temporary housing.

The White House said that they will be able to place people sleeping on the streets in the homeless shelters and provide access to addiction or mental health services – but if they refuse, they will be sentenced to fines or imprisonment.

“You can’t just grab people and force them to arrest them or go to a shelter, Mr Mr. Theodie said. “I don’t want to go to a shelter – Bad places.”

Organizations working with homeless people say that the system is usually flawed because the shelter capacity is limited.

Since he left the site, Mr. Theodie spent three nights at a motel in Virginia after giving money to cover him to cover him.

“If I hadn’t been blessed by that person, I don’t know what to do. I would probably sit on the sidewalk all day,” he said.

“This room is stuck full of things, my tent and my belongings … But it is very good to sleep in a bed, to take a shower, to use a private bathroom.”

Mr. Theodie said he would try to find a new place when he gets out of the motel: “My best option is trying to find a safe place to set up my tent. I don’t know where this will be, but I want to stay at DC.”

I also met 65 -year -old George Morgan from Washington DC in the camp. He said he had lived there for only two months and that he could no longer meet after he had to get out of an apartment anymore.

When I called to see what happened after the camp was lifted, someone was in a motel reception area with his dog blue and his dog.

“We’re sitting here to see if we could get another night. I had to pay a 15 -dollar dog fee – which was the last money.”

When I talked to Mr. Morgan last, he was able to extend his stay at the motel during the weekend – but he said he didn’t know what to bring next week.

“I have to play it with the ear because I don’t have money. God has always come, so I will see what God has set up in the next step.”