Trump wants to evict homeless from Washington and send them 'far from the capital'
"The Homeless have to move out, IMMEDIATELY. We will give you places to stay, but FAR from the Capital. The Criminals, you don't have to move out. We're going to put you in jail where you belong," Trump posted on the Truth Social platform.
The White House declined to explain what legal authority Trump would use to evict people from Washington. The Republican president controls only federal land and buildings in the city.
Trump is planning to hold a press conference on Monday to "stop violent crime in Washington, D.C." It was not clear whether he would announce more details about his eviction plan then.
Trump's Truth Social post included pictures of tents and D.C. streets with some garbage on them. "I'm going to make our Capital safer and more beautiful than it ever was before," he said.
According to the Community Partnership, an organization working to reduce homelessness in D.C., on any given night there are 3,782 single persons experiencing homelessness in the city of about 700,000 people.
Most of the homeless individuals are in emergency shelters or transitional housing. About 800 are considered unsheltered or "on the street," the organization says.
A White House official said on Friday that more federal law enforcement officers were being deployed in the city following a violent attack on a young Trump administration staffer that angered the president.
The Democratic mayor of Washington, D.C., Muriel Bowser, said on Sunday the capital was "not experiencing a crime spike."
"It is true that we had a terrible spike in crime in 2023, but this is not 2023," Bowser said on MSNBC's The Weekend. "We have spent over the last two years driving down violent crime in this city, driving it down to a 30-year low."
The city's police department reports that violent crime in the first seven months of 2025 was down by 26% in D.C. compared with last year while overall crime was down about 7%.
Bowser said Trump is "very aware" of the city's work with federal law enforcement after meeting with Trump several weeks ago in the Oval Office.
The U.S. Congress has control of D.C.'s budget after the district was established in 1790 with land from neighboring Virginia and Maryland, but resident voters elect a mayor and city council.
For Trump to take over the city, Congress likely would have to pass a law revoking the law that established local elected leadership, which Trump would have to sign.
Bowser on Sunday noted the president's ability to call up the National Guard if he wanted, a tactic the administration used recently in Los Angeles after immigration protests over the objections of local officials.
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
Reuters
22 minutes ago
- Reuters
Trump rebukes Goldman's Solomon over bank's tariff impact research
Aug 12 (Reuters) - U.S. President Donald Trump hit out at Goldman Sachs (GS.N), opens new tab CEO David Solomon on Tuesday, saying the bank had been wrong to predict tariffs would hurt the economy and questioning whether Solomon should lead the Wall Street institution. In a post on Truth Social, Trump said it was mostly foreign companies and governments absorbing the cost of his tariffs. "But David Solomon and Goldman Sachs refuse to give credit where credit is due. They made a bad both the Market repercussion and the Tariffs themselves." Trump said Solomon should maybe focus on being a DJ, a hobby Solomon abandoned some time ago, "and not bother running a major Financial Institution." The bank CEO is the latest corporate boss to become the target of Trump's ire. A Goldman Sachs spokesperson declined to comment. A spokesperson for the White House did not immediately respond to a request for comment. Since February 1, when Trump kicked off trade wars by slapping levies on imports from Mexico, Canada and China, at least 333 companies worldwide have reacted to the tariffs in some manner, as of August 12, according to a Reuters tracker. While Trump did not specify which Goldman research he was referring to, the Wall Street bank - like many of its peers - has taken a bearish stance on Trump's tariffs. In a note published on Sunday, Goldman Sachs analysts, led by chief economist Jan Hatzius, said U.S. consumers had absorbed 22% of tariff costs through June and that figure could rise to 67% if recent tariffs continue on the same trajectory. "I think that David should go out and get himself a new economist," Trump wrote. Hatzius declined to comment. In April, Goldman also warned sweeping U.S. tariffs would weigh on global growth and prompt the Federal Reserve to cut interest rates more aggressively than previously expected. Last week, the president demanded Intel (INTC.O), opens new tab CEO Lip Bu-Tan resign due to his ties to Chinese firms, and has repeatedly targeted Apple boss Tim Cook for making U.S.-sold iPhones outside the country. Trump has also taken aim at other Wall Street banks, alleging, without providing evidence, that JPMorgan Chase (JPM.N), opens new tab and Bank of America (BAC.N), opens new tab discriminated against him by refusing his deposits after his first term. Tariffs are taxes levied on imported goods to typically protect domestic industries or influence trade policies. Their cost can be distributed among manufacturers, retailers and consumers, depending on market conditions and supply-chain dynamics. As the second quarter earnings season progresses, companies have reported a combined financial hit of $13.6 billion to $15.2 billion between July 16 and August 8 for the full year from Trump's tariffs, according to Reuters' global tariff tracker.
Daily Mail
22 minutes ago
- Daily Mail
Republican probing Epstein files labels Bill Clinton a 'prime suspect'
A top Republican congressman has labeled former President Bill Clinton as a 'prime suspect' in his Jeffrey Epstein investigation and put forth a far-fetched theory that he could be punished with jail time if he skips the meeting. House Oversight Committee Chairman James Comer, R-Ky., fanned the flames of his ongoing probe into the deceased sex offender during a Newsmax interview on Monday evening. Hillary Clinton is being asked to sit for deposition on October 9 and the committee wants to depose Bill Clinton on October 14. Other top Obama and Biden-era officials are being called for interviews. If the Clintons don't show up for interviews, Comer floated the possibility of penalty of the former first couple being held in contempt. 'If someone doesn't comply with a subpoena — we've seen it happen in the past, in both my committee, as well as on the Jan. 6 committee, when the Democrats had the majority — and you can hold them in contempt of Congress,' the lawmaker ominously brought up. 'And with a Republican attorney general, that's something that I think that the Clinton legal team is going to think long and hard about.' A spokesperson for Clinton did not immediately respond to the Daily Mail's request for comment. If Clinton opts not to testify, then Congress could recommend his charges to Attorney General Pam Bondi. 'Hopefully we'll win that court battle with that subpoena and see President Clinton in October,' Comer said before touting his record as chairman. 'I've never lost a subpoena battle.' 'This is the most challenging subpoena I've ever issued, but what makes this subpoena different is that the Democrats voted with Republicans,' the Republican continued. Contempt of Congress is a misdemeanor offense punishable by a fine ranging up to $100,000 and jail time from one month up to twelve months. It would be unprecedented for a former president and first lady were ordered to jail for flouting Congress. While there have been instances of imprisonment for contempt of Congress, these have primarily involved officials and private citizens, but not former presidents or first ladies. In addition to the subpoenaed Democrats, Trump's former Attorney General Bill Barr has also been asked to sit with the committee.
The Independent
24 minutes ago
- The Independent
Karoline Leavitt says chief of police now answers to Trump who is Commander-in-Chief of DC force
The White House has confirmed the temporary chain of command for the District of Columbia police force over the next month, placing the ultimate authority for the department with President Donald Trump. Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt on Tuesday told reporters that the Trump administration plans to 'work with' the department's exiting command structure after Trump invoked a never-before-used authority in the city's home rule charter to take control of the police department, but she reiterated the new lines of responsibility that end in the Oval Office. 'Ultimately, the chain of command is as such: The President of the United States, the Attorney General of the United States, [and] our DEA administrator, Terry Cole, who is now serving ahead of the chief of the Metropolitan Police Department,' she said. Cole, who Trump announced as the acting head of the department at a press conference on Monday, has temporarily replaced D.C. Mayor Muriel Bowser as the person to whom MPD Chief Pamela Smith reports. The president justified the unprecedented move as necessary because of what he described — inaccurately — as record crime levels akin to some of the world's most violent cities — even as the American capital has seen declines in murder and other violent crime for the past two years. The previously unused section of the 1973 D.C. Home Rule Act Trump invoked in an executive order allows the president to use the Washington police department for federal purposes for a 30-day period. It was intended for use during periods of civil unrest like the riots that gripped the city and left parts of it burnt out and in ruins after the 1968 assassination of the Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr., but in practice there is no constraint on the president's ability to make use of the law so long as he 'determines that special conditions of an emergency nature exist which require the use of the Metropolitan Police force for federal purposes.' Although Washington's murder rate hit levels not seen since the crack cocaine epidemic of the 1980s and 1990s just two years ago, the period since has seen a steep decline under Smith, who was named to her role in 2023 after two years leading the U.S. Park Police. Statistics made public by the DC government and the Department of Justice show other violent crimes having declined during the same period. Yet Trump, whose view of Washington is largely limited to what he sees from his armored limousine while riding to and from the golf course he owns in Sterling, Virginia, described the situation in the capital as 'complete and total lawlessness.' He also blamed the 'dire public safety crisis' on 'the abject failures of the city's local leadership,' including the city's elected city council's decision to abolish cash bail as part of efforts to reduce racial inequities in the wake of the 2020 murder of George Floyd by a Minneapolis, Minnesota police officer.
