August 12, 2025
Ariana Figueroa, Jacob Fischler
Trump took the step despite a three-decade low in violent crime in Washington, D.C., while warning he may pursue similar action in other Democratic-led cities that he sees as having “totally out of control” crime.
At a news conference, Trump said that he hopes other Democratic-led cities are watching, because Monday’s actions in the district are just the beginning.
“We’re starting very strongly with D.C.,” Trump said.
The president placed the Metropolitan Police Department of roughly 3,400 officers under federal control, citing the district’s Home Rule Act that allows for the federal takeover until an emergency is declared over, or 30 days after the declaration. Congress can also authorize the extension.
“We’re going to take our capital back,” Trump said.
D.C. Mayor Muriel Bowser called Monday’s action “unsettling and unprecedented.” She added that she was not informed by the president that the district’s police force would be taken over.
Former DOGE staffer hurt
The escalation of federal control came after a former U.S. Department of Government Efficiency, or DOGE, official was injured in an attempted carjacking incident around 3 a.m. on Aug. 3 near the Logan Circle neighborhood of D.C. Two Maryland teenagers were arrested on charges of unarmed carjacking in connection with the incident.
The president said he is prepared to send in more National Guard “if needed” and that he will handle the city the same way he has handled immigration at the southern border. The Trump administration has been carrying out a campaign of mass deportations.
Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth said during the news conference that members of the National Guard will be “flowing into” the district sometime this week.
Local officials in the district protested Trump’s move. D.C. Attorney General Brian Schwalb, an elected official, wrote on X, formerly Twitter, that the Trump administration’s “actions are unprecedented, unnecessary, and unlawful.”
“There is no crime emergency in the District of Columbia. Violent crime in DC reached historic 30-year lows last year, and is down another 26% so far this year,” the post continued. “We are considering all of our options and will do what is necessary to protect the rights and safety of District residents.”
Trump said that he has also directed officials to clear out encampments of homeless people in the district, but did not detail where those people would be moved.
Hundreds of federal law enforcement officers, representing agencies from the Drug Enforcement Agency to the Interior Department, were deployed across the city Saturday and Sunday.
Los Angeles and beyond
The president’s crackdown in the district occurred after a federal appeals court this summer temporarily approved Trump’s move to take control of the California National Guard from Democratic Gov. Gavin Newsom for the purpose of quelling protests over the administration’s aggressive immigration raids.
The president Monday slammed several major Democratic cities — Baltimore, Chicago, New York City and Oakland, California — and inaccurately claimed they had the highest murder rates.
Trump said that he hopes other cities are “watching us today.”
“Maybe they’ll self clean up, and maybe they’ll self do this and get rid of the cashless bail thing and all of the things that caused the problem,” he said.
Trump pointed at Chicago, criticizing Mayor Brandon Johnson and Illinois Democratic Gov. JB Pritzker.
“I understand he wants to be president,” Trump said of Pritzker, before taking a shot at the governor’s personal appearance. “I noticed he lost a little weight, so maybe he has a chance.”
Pritzker is hosting Texas Democrats who left the state to prevent the state legislature from having a quorum after Republican Texas Gov. Greg Abbott called a special session to redraw the state’s electoral maps to favor Republicans.
GOP applauds
The top Republican on the U.S. House Oversight and Government Reform Committee, which has jurisdiction over the District, praised Trump’s decision to deploy the National Guard and take over the police department.
“President Trump is rightly using executive power to take bold and necessary action to crack down on crime and restore law and order in Washington, D.C.,” Rep. James Comer, R-Ky., said in a statement.
Comer added that the committee next month will hold a hearing with Schwalb, D.C. Council Chairman Phil Mendelson and Bowser.
While state governors have control over their National Guards, the president has control over the National Guard members in D.C. The National Guard does not have arresting authority, under the Posse Comitatus Act of 1878, which generally bars the use of the military for domestic law enforcement purposes.
During Trump’s first term, he deployed roughly 5,000 National Guard troops on Black Lives Matter protesters in the district after the police killing of George Floyd in Minneapolis in 2020.
And despite requests from congressional leaders, Trump notably delayed activating National Guard members during the 2021 insurrection on the U.S. Capitol, when the president’s supporters tried to subvert the certification of the 2020 presidential election.
In one of Trump’s first actions on his inauguration day in January, he pardoned hundreds of Jan. 6 rioters who were charged by the Department of Justice for their involvement in the insurrection.
Ariana Figueroa, Jacob Fischler
The
president also took control of the city’s police force and pledged similar
crackdowns in other Democratic cities.
WASHINGTON — President Donald
Trump asserted control Monday of the District of Columbia police force and
mobilized 800 National Guard troops in the nation’s capital under what he
declared a “crime emergency.”
Trump took the step despite a three-decade low in violent crime in Washington, D.C., while warning he may pursue similar action in other Democratic-led cities that he sees as having “totally out of control” crime.
At a news conference, Trump said that he hopes other Democratic-led cities are watching, because Monday’s actions in the district are just the beginning.
“We’re starting very strongly with D.C.,” Trump said.
The president placed the Metropolitan Police Department of roughly 3,400 officers under federal control, citing the district’s Home Rule Act that allows for the federal takeover until an emergency is declared over, or 30 days after the declaration. Congress can also authorize the extension.
“We’re going to take our capital back,” Trump said.
D.C. Mayor Muriel Bowser called Monday’s action “unsettling and unprecedented.” She added that she was not informed by the president that the district’s police force would be taken over.
Former DOGE staffer hurt
The escalation of federal control came after a former U.S. Department of Government Efficiency, or DOGE, official was injured in an attempted carjacking incident around 3 a.m. on Aug. 3 near the Logan Circle neighborhood of D.C. Two Maryland teenagers were arrested on charges of unarmed carjacking in connection with the incident.
The president said he is prepared to send in more National Guard “if needed” and that he will handle the city the same way he has handled immigration at the southern border. The Trump administration has been carrying out a campaign of mass deportations.
Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth said during the news conference that members of the National Guard will be “flowing into” the district sometime this week.
Local officials in the district protested Trump’s move. D.C. Attorney General Brian Schwalb, an elected official, wrote on X, formerly Twitter, that the Trump administration’s “actions are unprecedented, unnecessary, and unlawful.”
“There is no crime emergency in the District of Columbia. Violent crime in DC reached historic 30-year lows last year, and is down another 26% so far this year,” the post continued. “We are considering all of our options and will do what is necessary to protect the rights and safety of District residents.”
Trump said that he has also directed officials to clear out encampments of homeless people in the district, but did not detail where those people would be moved.
Hundreds of federal law enforcement officers, representing agencies from the Drug Enforcement Agency to the Interior Department, were deployed across the city Saturday and Sunday.
Los Angeles and beyond
The president’s crackdown in the district occurred after a federal appeals court this summer temporarily approved Trump’s move to take control of the California National Guard from Democratic Gov. Gavin Newsom for the purpose of quelling protests over the administration’s aggressive immigration raids.
The president Monday slammed several major Democratic cities — Baltimore, Chicago, New York City and Oakland, California — and inaccurately claimed they had the highest murder rates.
Trump said that he hopes other cities are “watching us today.”
“Maybe they’ll self clean up, and maybe they’ll self do this and get rid of the cashless bail thing and all of the things that caused the problem,” he said.
Trump pointed at Chicago, criticizing Mayor Brandon Johnson and Illinois Democratic Gov. JB Pritzker.
“I understand he wants to be president,” Trump said of Pritzker, before taking a shot at the governor’s personal appearance. “I noticed he lost a little weight, so maybe he has a chance.”
Pritzker is hosting Texas Democrats who left the state to prevent the state legislature from having a quorum after Republican Texas Gov. Greg Abbott called a special session to redraw the state’s electoral maps to favor Republicans.
GOP applauds
The top Republican on the U.S. House Oversight and Government Reform Committee, which has jurisdiction over the District, praised Trump’s decision to deploy the National Guard and take over the police department.
“President Trump is rightly using executive power to take bold and necessary action to crack down on crime and restore law and order in Washington, D.C.,” Rep. James Comer, R-Ky., said in a statement.
Comer added that the committee next month will hold a hearing with Schwalb, D.C. Council Chairman Phil Mendelson and Bowser.
While state governors have control over their National Guards, the president has control over the National Guard members in D.C. The National Guard does not have arresting authority, under the Posse Comitatus Act of 1878, which generally bars the use of the military for domestic law enforcement purposes.
During Trump’s first term, he deployed roughly 5,000 National Guard troops on Black Lives Matter protesters in the district after the police killing of George Floyd in Minneapolis in 2020.
And despite requests from congressional leaders, Trump notably delayed activating National Guard members during the 2021 insurrection on the U.S. Capitol, when the president’s supporters tried to subvert the certification of the 2020 presidential election.
In one of Trump’s first actions on his inauguration day in January, he pardoned hundreds of Jan. 6 rioters who were charged by the Department of Justice for their involvement in the insurrection.
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