Can Donald Trump take federal control of Washington, DC?

Al Jazeera

3 hours ago

After a group of teenagers severely beat a prominent employee of President Donald Trump's Department of Government Efficiency in an attempted carjacking in Washington, DC, Trump threatened a federal takeover of the nation's capital.
Trump shared an image on August 5 on Truth Social of a bloodied Edward Coristine, also known by his online alias as 'Big Balls'.
'If D.C. doesn't get its act together, and quickly, we will have no choice but to take Federal control of the City, and run this City how it should be run, and put criminals on notice that they're not going to get away with it anymore,' Trump wrote. 'Perhaps it should have been done a long time ago, then this incredible young man, and so many others, would not have had to go through the horrors of Violent Crime. If this continues, I am going to exert my powers, and FEDERALIZE this City. MAKE AMERICA GREAT AGAIN!'
Trump repeated the idea to reporters on August 6, saying he was 'going to look at' revoking the city's home rule, citing the attack on Coristine.
Data shows that in recent years, the district has had a significant crime problem, but offences such as homicide, gun-related and aggravated assault, carjacking, vehicle theft, robbery and sexual assault have declined from COVID-19-era peaks.
But a big question remains: can Trump undertake a federal takeover of the District of Columbia?
Experts say it's possible, but not necessarily simple – he'd have to get Congress to agree.
What is DC's 'home rule'?
The United States Constitution created the District of Columbia as a 10-square-mile seat of the federal government.
Because the district is not a state, its residents lack full congressional representation; it has one House delegate who cannot vote on the floor, and no senators.
For about a century until 1973, the city was run by three presidentially appointed commissioners. That year, President Richard Nixon signed the Home Rule Act, enabling district residents to elect a mayor and city council.
While the home rule law granted the district significant autonomy for local governance, the city still answers to Congress on certain matters, including budgetary oversight and the ability to overturn local legislation.
'Since 1974, and indeed for all of DC history, members of Congress have interfered in city affairs to fiddle with everything from how long pools are open to banning the city from using its own tax money for a needle exchange programme,' said George Derek Musgrove, a University of Maryland-Baltimore County historian.
What does it mean to federalise DC?
Trump hasn't detailed how federalisation would work, or said whether there are specific services he wants to take over.
Legal scholars agreed, given the explicit language in the Constitution, that Trump cannot simply take over the district and oust its home rule-elected leadership. He would have to work with Congress, the entity entrusted with overseeing the capital.
'Congress may exercise this authority, not exercise it, or delegate it,' Musgrove said. 'With the Home Rule Act of 1973, it delegated a good bit of that authority – though not all – to a local government. It would have to act to reclaim that authority, or to delegate it to another entity, like the executive branch.'
Congress's Republican majorities have so far supported Trump's agenda with near-unanimity, but a repeal of home rule isn't a sure thing.
It would need to win passage in the House, which the Republicans narrowly control and where Trump might be able to enforce his will with the majority. But it would also need to clear the Senate, which would take 60 votes, including at least seven Democratic votes, to proceed to final consideration. Democrats have generally been supportive of home rule for the district.
In February, Senator Mike Lee and Representative Andrew Ogles introduced legislation to repeal home rule. But the measure has only three Senate co-sponsors and three House co-sponsors.
'According to the Constitution, Congress makes the laws for the district,' said University of North Carolina law professor Michael Gerhardt. If Trump wants to 'federalise DC in order for him to wipe out its Democratic leadership and replace it with people who are loyal only to him, that strikes me as precisely what the framers did not want'.
Short of a law, the president has other ways to exert influence in the district, including the authority to mobilise the DC National Guard without local consent. That's a possibility he floated in remarks to reporters on August 6.
The Home Rule Act also allows the president to assume temporary control over the city's police department in an emergency – something Trump threatened to do in 2020 amid nationwide protests over the killing of George Floyd.
What has Trump said over time about this?
Trump has talked broadly since his 2024 campaign about expanding the federal government's powers over the district, including enhanced oversight and direct management.
During the March 2023 Conservative Political Action Conference, Trump spoke about driving through the district, lamenting dirty roads. 'It looked like somebody just took their garbage and just threw it all over the highways, the Beltway. It's so disgraceful, so disgusting,' Trump said. '… Frankly, the federal government should take over control and management of Washington, DC.'
During a July 2024 Florida campaign rally, Trump promised to 'take over the horribly run capital of our nation in Washington, DC, and clean it up, renovate it, and rebuild our capital city so that it is no longer a nightmare of murder and crime, but rather it will become the most beautiful capital anywhere in the world'.
Trump echoed this in February, again focusing on blight and crime: 'I think the federal government should take over the governance of DC and run it really, really properly.'
In March, Trump signed an executive order establishing the 'DC Safe and Beautiful Task Force'. It mandates beautification efforts such as graffiti removal and enhanced park maintenance, and it includes provisions to address violent crime and issues related to homelessness.
In a July Cabinet meeting, Trump pitched the idea again: 'We have tremendous power at the White House to run places where we have to. We could run DC. I mean, we're … looking at DC. We don't want crime in DC. We want the city to run well.'
Has home rule been revoked before?
There is precedent for removing home-rule powers, but not recently.
In 1874, local conservatives angry about voting rights for local Black and working-class white residents teamed up with opponents of Reconstruction-era voting in the South and some of their Northern allies to roll back democratic laws in the district, Musgrove said.
The changes lasted until Nixon signed the home rule bill a century later.
A repeal of home rule would not be popular with Washingtonians. In 2024, Trump won less than 6.5 percent of the district's vote.
While no city is perfect, the district has built a functioning city government under home rule, Musgrove said.
'There is no question that people would be mad,' Musgrove said.