Does a widely-shared video prove that U.S. military tanks patrolled the streets of Washington, D.C. on June 11, 2025? No, that's not true: The person who recorded it told Lead Stories that the 10-second clip showed an armored vehicle that was in the nation's capital to participate in a military parade on June 14, 2025. That account was consistent with reports from local news outlets and earlier U.S. Army statements.
The claim appeared in a post (archived here) published on X on June 11, 2025. It opened:
🚨🚨🚨 MAJOR UPDATE: MILITARY TANKS ARE NOW PATROLLING THE STREETS OF WASHINGTON DC ALL NIGHT LONG
This is what the post looked like on X at the time of writing:
(Source: X screenshot by Lead Stories)
The video appeared online in the context of the White House's decision to sent the National Guard and U.S. Marines to Los Angeles amid a wave of anti-ICE protests (archived here). The post implied that the military had been deployed in Washington, too.
The clip was originally posted to X on June 10 by freelance reporter Andrew Leyden, who wrote:
VIDEO: Tanks on the streets of Washington DC last night as the Army 250th Parade nears.
When contacted by Lead Stories on June 12, 2025, Leyden confirmed via email that he was the person who recorded the video around this spot (archived here) and added:
It was filmed next to the MLK memorial where armored vehicles are being stored for the Army parade. There have been dozens of vehicles arriving lately for the Army 250 parade on Saturday
On July 11, 2025, WJLA (archived here), a Virginia-based ABC affiliate, reported that tanks preparing to participate in the parade were staged in West Potomac Park in Washington, D.C. (archived here), which is a larger area around the Marin Luther King, Jr. Memorial.
Furthermore, the U.S. Army itself posted videos of the armored vehicles in Washington D.C. -- for example, here, here, here and here. The captions under those videos stated that the vehicles were brought to West Potomac Park as part of preparations for the parade marking the U.S. Army's 250th birthday, not for "patrolling" the streets of Washington, D.C.
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