Trump: Calls to make Washington DC a state are unacceptable
The district's mayor Muriel Bowser renewed calls for the US capital to become its own state after Mr Trump deployed 800 National Guard troops to the city and brought the police under federal control.
Following Mr Trump's Monday press conference announcing the emergency measures, Ms Bowser said it was evidence of the region's 'tenuous' democracy and said she advocated for statehood.
Doubling down on these claims on Tuesday, she said: 'It's times like this when America needs to know why your nation's capital, a place where 700,000 taxpaying Americans live, should be the 51st state.'
Asked about the idea of Washington becoming a state during an event announcing the Kennedy Centre honourees, Mr Trump said: 'Statehood is ridiculous.
'We want to straighten the place out, statehood is ridiculous, it's unacceptable... the Democrats want it because the Democrats have, you know, about 95 per cent in this little area.'
He added: 'They want to pick up two senators, and it's not going to happen, it's not going to happen and that's the least of the reasons why, by the way, but that's one of the reasons why.
'What we want to do is make Washington DC the greatest, most beautiful, safest capital anywhere in the world, and that's going to happen.'
The US capital has three electoral votes in the presidential election, but does not have voting representatives in Congress, and the federal government has a level of control over the area.
Ms Bowser has long been a proponent for statehood, having called for it in the wake of the January 6 attack on the Capitol in 2021.
The House passed a bill to declare Washington the country's 51st state while Joe Biden was in office, but the legislation did not make it to a Senate vote despite Democrats controlling both chambers of Congress.
Ms Bowser also appeared to ramp up her rhetoric pushing back against Mr Trump's federalisation of DC, calling for residents to protect their city and its autonomy.
'This is a time where community needs to jump in and we all need to do what we can in our space, in our lane, to protect our city and to protect our autonomy, to protect our Home Rule, and get to the other side of this guy, and make sure we elect a Democratic House so that we have a backstop to this authoritarian push,' Ms Bowser said during a Tuesday town hall, according to CNN.
Mr Trump's comments came as US National Guard troops were deployed to the city's streets, with armoured vehicles and spotted in urban centres and tourist sites.
The District of Columbia Home Rule Act allows Mr Trump to place the Metropolitan Police Department under federal control for up to 30 days, but on Wednesday the US president suggested it would be extended.
He said Washington DC would be a 'very positive example' and 'we're going to be asking for extensions on that, long-term extensions, because you can't have 30 days'.
He added: 'We're gonna do this very quickly, but we're gonna want extensions, I don't want to call a national emergency. If I have to, I will, but I think the Republicans in Congress will approve this pretty much unanimously.'
Federal and local authorities made 23 arrests during the first day of Mr Trump's Washington crackdown, which included suspects wanted for murder, gun offences and other crimes, according to Kash Patel, the FBI director.
National Guard soldiers were deployed under Title 32, which means they are under the control of the state's governor, which, given the district is not a state, falls to Mr Trump.
This means the troops have the authority to make arrests, unlike when they were deployed in Los Angeles earlier this summer, but defence officials said that for now their mission was to support law enforcement officers.
Celebrating the arrest figures on X, Mr Patel wrote: 'We are just getting started... When you let good cops be cops they can clean up our streets and do it fast. More to come. Your nation's capital WILL be safe again.'
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