Trump seeks extension of control over DC police
Donald Trump says he can declare a "national emergency" to extend federal control over Washington DC's police force. Photo: Reuters
US President Donald Trump said on Wednesday he would ask the Republican-controlled Congress to extend federal control of Washington's city police force beyond 30 days, escalating his campaign to exert presidential power over the nation's capital.
Trump also asserted that any congressional action could serve as a model for other US cities. He has previously threatened to expand his efforts to other Democratic-run cities such as Chicago that he claims have failed to address crime.
It was not clear how Trump's takeover of Washington's Metropolitan Police Department could be replicated elsewhere.
In seizing control on Monday, Trump took advantage of a federal law, the District of Columbia Home Rule Act, that permits the president to do so under emergency circumstances for up to 30 days.
There is no basis for Trump to attempt similar takeovers in other cities, according to John P Fishwick Jr, a former federal prosecutor in Virginia, who said that Washington represents a "unique situation."
Trump also announced on Monday that he was deploying 800 National Guard troops to the city, a tactic he employed in Los Angeles in June when he mobilised thousands of Guard soldiers and US Marines over the objections of state and local officials in response to protests over his administration's immigration raids.
Separately, hundreds of federal officers and agents from more than a dozen agencies have fanned out across Washington in recent days.
Trump has painted a picture of the US capital as a city gripped by a wave of crime and pervasive homelessness, despite both federal and city crime statistics showing that violent crime has declined precipitously since a spike in 2023.
Trump said on Wednesday that the city's crime statistics were a "total fraud," without providing evidence, and that the public would soon see a "big change" in the figures.
US Attorney General Pam Bondi told FOX Noticias that officials were looking into whether the city's statistics last year were manipulated. (Reuters)
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