President
Donald Trump on Monday said he is placing the
Washington, D.C.,
police department under federal control and deploying 800
National Guard troops in order to address what he claims is out-of-control crime in the capital city.
The move — which marks the first time in history that a president has federalized the district’s police force — was met with fierce condemnation from local officials, who quickly noted that official statistics show crime is on the decline.
Trump unveiled the action after describing the city in apocalyptic terms.
“I’m announcing a historic action to rescue our nation’s capital from crime, bloodshed, bedlam and squalor, and worse,” Trump declared at the start of a lengthy news conference in the White House press briefing room.
“This is Liberation Day in D.C., and we’re going to take our capitol back.”
He said he was invoking his authority under Section 740 of the district’s
Home Rule Act, the decades-old law that establishes the capital’s local government.
The section Trump cited gives the president the power to order the D.C. mayor to temporarily hand over control of the Metropolitan Police force if he determines that “special conditions of an emergency nature exist.”
But his emergency control is set to expire after a maximum of 30 days, according to the statute. That can be extended, but only if Congress passes a law authorizing it.
While Trump has frequently complained about crime in the district, violent crime there has fallen to a 30-year low as of January, according to the
U.S. Department of Justice.
Statistics from the Metropolitan Police Department also show that incidences of homicide, sexual abuse, assault with a dangerous weapon, robbery and overall violent crime have dropped by double-digit percentages so far this year.
Federal law enforcement presence in D.C. has nevertheless increased in recent days.
D.C. Attorney General Brian Schwalbe called Trump’s actions “unprecedented, unnecessary, and unlawful,” and signaled his office will take action to challenge the administration.
“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,” Schwalbe said in an X post.
“We are considering all of our options and will do what is necessary to protect the rights and safety of District residents,” he said.
D.C. Rep. Eleanor Holmes Norton, a Democrat, in a statement called Trump’s actions “an historic assault on D.C. home rule,” and a “counterproductive, escalatory seizure of D.C.’s resources to use for purposes not supported by D.C. residents.”
“The administration is justifying the decision by misleadingly citing years-old statistics,” Norton said.
Trump, who has recently threatened to place Washington under federal control, said Monday morning that U.S. Attorney General Pam Bondi is “taking command of the Metropolitan Police Department as of this moment.”
He also said that he will deploy the National Guard to “help re-establish law order and public safety in Washington, D.C., and they’re going to be allowed to do their job properly.”
Trump added, “You’re going to have a lot of essentially military, and we will bring in the military if it’s needed.”
D.C. Mayor Muriel Bowser’s office did not immediately respond to CNBC’s request for comment on Trump’s actions.
She had previously pushed back on Trump’s characterization of her city.
“People are coming to our capital. They’re starting business in our capital, and they’re raising families in our capital. Any comparison to a war-torn country is hyperbolic and false,” Bowser said Sunday on MSNBC’s “The Weekend.”
Trump had teased his announcement on social media in the days leading up to the presser.
“Crime, Savagery, Filth, and Scum will DISAPPEAR. I will, MAKE OUR CAPITAL GREAT AGAIN!” Trump wrote on Truth Social earlier Monday.
On Sunday, he declared that “the Homeless” in D.C. will “have to move out, IMMEDIATELY,” while assuring that the government “will give you places to stay, but FAR from the Capital.”
The Trump administration has disputed that crime in D.C. is dropping. White House communications director Steven Cheung on Monday morning pointed to a police union’s reported accusation that crime statistics in D.C. have been manipulated.
Trump’s complaints about crime in D.C. ramped up after reports that Edward Coristine, one of the initial staffers on the White House’s Department of Government Efficiency, was assaulted there earlier this month.
