Trump Ordered the National Guard to Police the Nation's Capital
The president described the federal takeover, which the White House said would last 30 days, as a necessary step to address crime in Washington. At a news conference announcing the decision, he painted a dystopian picture of a city filled with 'roving mobs of wild youth,' 'bloodthirsty criminals' and 'drugged out maniacs.' The city's official data shows that violent crime is at a 30-year low.
Local officials immediately criticized the president's move, and pockets of protesters sprang up. Mayor Muriel Bowser acknowledged that Trump had the authority to take over the city's police, but described his actions as 'unsettling and unprecedented.'
Trump suggested that he would be using Washington as something of a guinea pig to prove that Republicans can clean up cities better than Democrats can, and that the federal government might eventually target cities like Chicago, New York and Los Angeles.
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The Trump administration also plans to temporarily reassign 120 F.B.I. agents in Washington to nighttime patrol duties as part of the crackdown.
The president's earlier deployment of National Guard troops to Los Angeles remains contentious.
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