NEW: Top ABC Host ‘Jumped’ In DC: ‘Experienced It First-Hand’

A top talent at ABC News admitted she was recently the victim of a violent crime in Washington, D.C., underscoring the need for a greater law enforcement presence in the nation’s capital.

Kyra Phillips, who has been with the network since 2018, recalled on Monday her recent encounter with a “half-dressed” man who mugged her in downtown D.C. She cited the instance as a “firsthand” experience felt by many others as they brave the pedestrian commute to work each day.

“I can tell you firsthand here in downtown DC, where we work, right here around our bureau, just in the past six months, you know, there were two people shot, one person died, literally two blocks down here from the bureau,” Phillips explained.

“It was within the last two years that I actually was jumped walking just two blocks down from here,” she revealed.

“And then, just this morning, one of my co-workers said her car was stolen, a block away from the bureau,” Phillips added.

“We can talk about the numbers going down, but crime is happening every single day because we’re all experiencing it firsthand, working and living down here,” the “ABC News Live” host continued while reporting on President Trump’s decision to bring thousands of soldiers and FBI agents into Washington to patrol the city’s streets at night.

She later described the experience as “scary as hell” while interviewing U.S. Attorney Jeanine Pirro.

“So, I was jumped just two blocks here– from the ABC bureau. It was not a minor, though,” she told Pirro, noting that “it’s happened to a lot of people in our building, sadly.”

“He was homeless and half-dressed — clearly wasn’t in his clear mind,” Phillips said, describing her attacker.

Phillips, who previously worked for CNN, said she felt the best option at the time was to fight back.

“It was scary as hell, I’m not going to lie, but I fought back. I didn’t see any weapons in his hands. I felt like it was my only choice,” she revealed, the NY Post reported.

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At a fiery press conference on Monday, President Trump railed against the pervasive lawlessness he sees in D.C. on a daily basis. Streets have been “overtaken by violent gangs and bloodthirsty criminals, roving mobs of wild youth, drugged-out maniacs and homeless people,” he said.

The administration is “not going to let it happen anymore,” he added, promising a platoon of federal authorities who will raze homeless encampments and oversee the collection of drug paraphernalia littering city gutters.

Critics have pointed to an overall decline in D.C. crime over the past few years. In an ironic twist, a fatal drive-by shooting occurred in the city on Monday night.