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Toronto Sun
23 minutes ago
- Toronto Sun
Trump's Washington takeover begins as National Guard troops arrive
Published Aug 12, 2025 • 5 minute read Members of the National Guard walk from the DC Joint Force Headquarters to the DC Armory in Washington, DC, on August 12, 2025. Donald Trump on August 11 deployed military and federal law enforcement to curb violent crime in Washington, as he seeks to make good on his campaign pledge to be a "law and order" president. The Republican leader said he would place the city's Metropolitan Police under federal government control while also sending the National Guard onto the streets of the US capital. The overwhelmingly Democratic city faces allegations from Republican politicians that it is overrun by crime, plagued by homelessness and financially mismanaged -- although violent offenses are down. (Photo by Jim WATSON / AFP) Photo by JIM WATSON / AFP WASHINGTON — Some of the 800 National Guard members deployed by President Donald Trump began arriving in the nation's capital on Tuesday, ramping up after the White House ordered federal forces to take over the city's police department and reduce crime in what the president called — without substantiation — a lawless city. This advertisement has not loaded yet, but your article continues below. THIS CONTENT IS RESERVED FOR SUBSCRIBERS ONLY Subscribe now to read the latest news in your city and across Canada. Unlimited online access to articles from across Canada with one account. Get exclusive access to the Toronto Sun ePaper, an electronic replica of the print edition that you can share, download and comment on. Enjoy insights and behind-the-scenes analysis from our award-winning journalists. Support local journalists and the next generation of journalists. Daily puzzles including the New York Times Crossword. SUBSCRIBE TO UNLOCK MORE ARTICLES Subscribe now to read the latest news in your city and across Canada. Unlimited online access to articles from across Canada with one account. Get exclusive access to the Toronto Sun ePaper, an electronic replica of the print edition that you can share, download and comment on. Enjoy insights and behind-the-scenes analysis from our award-winning journalists. Support local journalists and the next generation of journalists. Daily puzzles including the New York Times Crossword. REGISTER / SIGN IN TO UNLOCK MORE ARTICLES Create an account or sign in to continue with your reading experience. Access articles from across Canada with one account. Share your thoughts and join the conversation in the comments. Enjoy additional articles per month. Get email updates from your favourite authors. THIS ARTICLE IS FREE TO READ REGISTER TO UNLOCK. Create an account or sign in to continue with your reading experience. Access articles from across Canada with one account Share your thoughts and join the conversation in the comments Enjoy additional articles per month Get email updates from your favourite authors Don't have an account? Create Account The influx came the morning after Trump announced he would be activating the guard members and taking over the department. He cited a crime emergency — but referred to the same crime that city officials stress is already falling noticeably. The president holds the legal right to make such moves for at least a month. Mayor Muriel Bowser pledged to work alongside the federal officials Trump has tasked with overseeing the city's law enforcement, while insisting the police chief remained in charge of the department and its officers. 'How we got here or what we think about the circumstances — right now we have more police, and we want to make sure we use them,' she told reporters. The tone was a shift the day before, when Bowser said Trump's plan to take over the Metropolitan Police Department and call in the National Guard was not a productive step and argued his perceived state of emergency simply doesn't match the declining crime numbers. Still, the law gives the federal government more sway over the capital city than in U.S. states, and Bowser said her administration's ability to push back is limited. This advertisement has not loaded yet, but your article continues below. Attorney General Pam Bondi, meanwhile, called the Tuesday morning meeting productive in a social media post and said the Justice Department would 'work closely with the D.C. city government' to 'make Washington, D.C., safe again.' The city and Trump have had a bumpy relationship While Trump invokes his plan by saying that 'we're going to take our capital back,' Bowser and the MPD maintain that violent crime overall in Washington has decreased to a 30-year low after a sharp rise in 2023. Carjackings, for example, dropped about 50% in 2024 and are down again this year. More than half of those arrested, however, are juveniles, and the extent of those punishments is a point of contention for the Trump administration. Your noon-hour look at what's happening in Toronto and beyond. By signing up you consent to receive the above newsletter from Postmedia Network Inc. Please try again This advertisement has not loaded yet, but your article continues below. Bowser, a Democrat, spent much of Trump's first term in office openly sparring with the Republican president. She fended off his initial plans for a military parade through the streets and stood in public opposition when he called in a multi-agency flood of federal law enforcement to confront anti-police brutality protesters in summer 2020. She later had the words 'Black Lives Matter' painted in giant yellow letters on the street about a block from the White House. In Trump's second term, backed by Republican control of both houses of Congress, Bowser has walked a public tightrope for months, emphasizing common ground with the Trump administration on issues such as the successful effort to bring the NFL's Washington Commanders back to the District of Columbia. This advertisement has not loaded yet, but your article continues below. She watched with open concern for the city streets as Trump finally got his military parade this summer. Her decision to dismantle Black Lives Matter Plaza earlier this year served as a neat metaphor for just how much the power dynamics between the two executives had evolved. Now that fraught relationship enters uncharted territory as Trump has followed through on months of what many D.C. officials had quietly hoped were empty threats. The new standoff has cast Bowser in a sympathetic light, even among her longtime critics. 'It's a power play and we're an easy target,' said Clinique Chapman, CEO of the D.C. Justice Lab. A frequent critic of Bowser, whom she accuses of 'over policing our youth' with the recent expansions of Washington's youth curfew, Chapman said Trump's latest move 'is not about creating a safer D.C. It's just about power.' This advertisement has not loaded yet, but your article continues below. Bowser contends that all the power resides with Trump and that her administration can do little other than comply and make the best of it. As long as Washington remains a federal enclave with limited autonomy under the 1973 Home Rule Act, she said, it will remain vulnerable to such takeovers. 'We know that access to our democracy is tenuous,' Bowser said. 'That is why you have heard me, and many many Washingtonians before me, advocate for full statehood for the District of Columbia.' Section 740 of the Home Rule Act allows the president to take over Washington's police for up to 30 days during times of emergencies. No president has done so before, said Monica Hopkins, executive director of the American Civil Liberties Union's D.C. chapter. This advertisement has not loaded yet, but your article continues below. 'That should alarm everyone,' she said, 'not just in Washington.' For Trump, the effort to take over public safety in Washington reflects an escalation of his aggressive approach to law enforcement. The District of Columbia's status as a congressionally established federal district gives him a unique opportunity to push his tough-on-crime agenda, though he has not proposed solutions to the root causes of homelessness or crime. 'Let me be crystal clear,' Attorney General Pam Bondi said during Trump's announcement news conference. 'Crime in D.C. is ending and ending today.' The action fits a presidential pattern Trump's declaration of a state of emergency fits the general pattern of his second term in office. He has declared states of emergency on issues ranging from border protection to economic tariffs, enabling him to essentially rule via executive order. In many cases, he has moved forward while the courts sorted them out. This advertisement has not loaded yet, but your article continues below. Bowser's claims about successfully driving down violent crime rates received backing earlier this year from an unlikely source. Ed Martin, Trump's original choice for U.S. attorney for the District of Columbia, issued a press release in April hailing a 25% drop in violent crime rates from the previous year. 'Thanks to the leadership of President Trump and the efforts of our 'Make D.C. Safe Again' initiative, the District has seen a significant decline in violent crime,' Martin said. 'We are proving that strong enforcement, and smart policies can make our communities safer.' In May, Trump abandoned his efforts to get Martin confirmed for the post in the face of opposition in Congress. His replacement candidate, former judge and former Fox News host Jeanine Pirro, was recently confirmed. On Monday, Pirro — standing next to Trump _ called his takeover 'the step that we need right now to make criminals understand that they are not going to get away with it anymore.' Toronto Blue Jays Toronto Blue Jays World Columnists Columnists
Toronto Star
39 minutes ago
- Toronto Star
Zelenskyy says Putin wants the rest of Ukraine's Donetsk region as part of a ceasefire
BRUSSELS (AP) — Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said Tuesday that Russian President Vladimir Putin wants Ukraine to withdraw from the remaining 30% of the Donetsk region that Ukraine controls as part of a ceasefire deal. Zelenskyy said Russia's position had been conveyed to him by U.S. officials ahead of a summit Friday between Putin and U.S. President Donald Trump in Alaska on the war in Ukraine. Zelensky reiterated that Ukraine would not withdraw from territories it controls, saying that would be unconsitutional and would serve only as a springboard for a future Russian invasion.
Winnipeg Free Press
an hour ago
- Winnipeg Free Press
‘Russians at War' team on ‘shocking' backlash to film and direct-to-audience release
Anastasia Trofimova risked her life to make 'Russians at War' — and then spent the next year fighting to have the film shown. Now, after months of cancellations, protests and threats, the controversial documentary will bypass traditional channels and release directly to audiences on Tuesday. The film, which follows Russian soldiers on the front lines of the war in Ukraine, drew a standing ovation at its Venice world premiere in 2024 but quickly became a lightning rod. Its North American debut at TIFF last year was met with demonstrations from pro-Ukraine groups who called it Russian propaganda. Its screenings had to be rescheduled due to 'significant threats to festival operations and public safety.' The blowback continued throughout the year, with festivals including Athens and Zurich withdrawing the film due to mounting protests and security concerns. Meanwhile, TVO scrapped plans to air the documentary after the backlash, leaving it without a distributor. 'I was getting death threats and all sorts of abuse,' says Trofimova of the backlash. 'It was shocking. You go to the war against all odds, you bring back a story, you go deeper than other people because you're that much more obsessed about it, and you are getting attacked by people who have not been even close to the war, but they're telling you what it's like.' The Russian-Canadian director points out that many of the film's detractors said they hadn't seen the film and didn't intend to. 'They're refusing to see the film, but have very strong opinions on it. So that's been a bit surprising,' she says on a video call. In 'Russians at War,' Trofimova embeds herself with Russian troops on the front lines of the conflict in Ukraine, capturing their personal experiences and perspectives. While some have praised it for its unfiltered portrayal of soldiers' realities, others have criticized it for lacking historical and political context about the invasion, raising concerns that it might whitewash the actions of the Russian military. The film's producer Cornelia Principe says the direct-to-audience release is 'partly by design, partly by necessity.' 'It was important for us to get it out there so people can see it, because part of the controversy is coming from places where people haven't seen the film,' explains the Oscar-nominated producer behind 2022's 'To Kill a Tiger.' Principe says 'Russians at War' is still being shopped to European broadcasters and will air on British Columbia's Knowledge Network this fall as part of a series of films about the war in Ukraine. Lawyers representing the film threatened TVO with legal action last year for pulling the film, but Principe says both parties have since reached 'a mutually satisfactory settlement of our dispute and have agreed not to comment further.' She says her production company, Raja Pictures, has reclaimed the film's rights. The film is available to rent worldwide at except in Russia, Ukraine, and Belarus, where producers plan to offer it for free at a later date. Principe says they took inspiration from the Oscar-winning documentary 'No Other Land,' about the Israel-Palestine conflict, and 'Union,' which follows Amazon workers' fight to unionize — both titles faced distribution hurdles and ultimately went the direct-to-audience route. Trofimova says the intense backlash to 'Russians at War' revealed just how vulnerable films can be to organized attacks. 'It was shocking how easy it is to attack a film. If you are an interest group, if you're a state, if you're a corporation, it's not that hard to get screenings cancelled or to muddy the waters around what it's about,' she says. 'How do we make complex films and get them out there, despite the fact that they will most likely be attacked by some sort of interest group?' Principe worries about the chilling effect such pressure could have on creative freedom. 'Are we leading to situations where filmmakers will self-censor, where broadcasters will self-censor, where festivals will self-censor and not take on difficult things?' Still, Principe says she and Trofimova 'listened to what people were saying.' Weekly A weekly look at what's happening in Winnipeg's arts and entertainment scene. In response to criticism that 'Russians at War' lacked sufficient context on the Russian invasion of Ukraine, they added an introductory card to the direct-to-audience version noting that the invasion is 'the deadliest conflict on European soil since WWII' and that war crimes investigations by the International Criminal Court are underway. As for those still reluctant to watch the film, Trofimova says: 'Watch it when you're ready.' 'It's not a film where it's like 'gotcha.' It's not a film where I aimed to dehumanize someone. It's a document of history and this war is scary. And this war, it is a tragedy and it's still continuing. And when you watch it, just know that it's continuing,' she says. 'I hope, on the human part, we can see each other as people, and I hope that once you see what war looks like, anyone who has any illusions will understand a little bit more.' This report by The Canadian Press was first published Aug. 12, 2025.
