Trump's DC takeover sends national shock waves

The Hill

3 hours ago

In today's issue:
▪ Trump: Cities beyond DC could see federal policing
▪ US extends China tariff deadline
▪ Democrats allege DOJ, FBI weaponization
▪ Zelensky vies for influence at Trump-Putin summit
President Trump is looking beyond the nation's capital to deploy federal crime-fighting muscle and the National Guard to prominent cities run by Democrats, he said on Monday.
'Other cities are hopefully watching,' the president said after declaring a public safety emergency in Washington, D.C.
Mayor Muriel Bowser (D) and members of the D.C. City Council in a separate statement disputed Trump's descriptions of out-of-control violent crime while arguing the president's actions are unprecedented and unnecessary.
'I'm going to work every day to make sure it's not a complete disaster. Let me put it that way,' the mayor told reporters on Monday.
Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schume r (D-N.Y.) called Trump's scathing crime narrative a 'political ploy.' Maryland Sen. Chris Van Hollen (D) said the president is ' testing the limits of his power.' The Democratic Mayors Association accused Trump of a 'charade,' arguing that 'crime is down in most major cities.'
During a lengthy press conference, Trump said the Justice Department is now in charge of the Metropolitan Police Department in the nation's capital and he vowed to deploy 800 National Guard members within a city he called 'dirty, disgusting' and full of 'drugged-out maniacs.'
D.C. residents number just 700,000, but the city played host to a record 27 million visitors last year.
The president, reprising his longtime narrative that cities and states governed by Democrats are poorly served and in danger, called out Chicago and Los Angeles, while also mentioning New York City, his hometown. All are led by Democratic mayors in states with prominent Democratic governors, several of whom are sizing up potential presidential bids in 2028.
Trump says federal crime fighting in Washington could be a model for his administration to take similar action elsewhere. He previously deployed federal troops to Los Angeles in June to bolster immigration enforcement before removing them last month.
His decision at the time to ignore California Democratic Gov. Gavin Newsom 's objections to active-duty Marines mobilized on domestic soil is the subject of a federal appeals court trial this week in San Francisco as part of a challenge filed by the state. Newsom, who is term-limited and taking a leadership role for Democrats, has said a race for the White House in 2028 could ' unfold.' sc
Trump argues he has the presidential authority to declare public safety emergencies tied to assertions of crime and other hazards that permit him to temporarily empower federal law enforcement to direct and assist city policing.
The president, who criticized Democrats in 2020 for backing proposals to defund police in reaction to the murder of George Floyd, says he has broad public support for his crime-fighting moves. In the summer of 2020, Trump deployed more than 5,000 National Guard troops to Washington to crack down on mostly peaceful demonstrators pushing for racial justice and some looters.
Democratic candidates largely retreated from antipolice rhetoric by 2022 as unpopular with voters and a political boost to the GOP. Trump favors more arrests in major urban settings and tougher prosecutions while also urging cities to remove homeless encampments on public property.
'This dire public safety crisis stems directly from the abject failures of the city's local leadership. The radical-left City Council adopted no-cash bail,' Trump said Monday, referring to criminal justice reforms in Washington, Illinois and New York City adopted years ago to reduce jail populations among some defendants who would otherwise remain behind bars because they could not afford to post a bond.
'We're going to change no-cash bail. We're going to change the statute and get rid of some of the other things, and we'll count on the Republicans in Congress and Senate to vote,' Trump said. ' We have the majority, so we'll vote.'
Washington, however, has a unique and complicated status in the United States as a congressionally established federal district with a thin legal shield for home rule, calling into question the president's assertion that a federal crackdown in the nation's capital can serve as a template for crime fighting in other major cities.
'One of the most important bulwarks against authoritarian rule in the United States is the fact that we have a federalist system with shared sovereignty, so that the president or the federal government generally can't simply take over states,' said Paul Schiff Berman, a former dean of the George Washington University Law School.
'D.C. is not a state. And so it gives the president more leeway. And that's really dangerous,' Berman told The Hill.
▪ The Hill: Extending Trump's 30-day control of the city's police department requires congressional action following the administration's official notification Monday of relevant leaders in Congress.
Trump offered no details Monday about tackling the causes of homelessness, drug abuse and violent crimes, particularly gun crimes. Although the president described Washington's public safety condition as an emergency, the city's murder rate fell following a postpandemic spike in 2023.
👉 Check out today's edition of The Movement: 'President Trump's effort to lessen crime in Washington, D.C. and launch a 'beautification' effort is clashing with a long tradition of Republicans criticizing and outright writing off the nation's cities.' Click here to sign up & get it in your inbox.
3 Things to Know Today
The president will nominate Heritage Foundation economist E.J. Antoni to lead the Bureau of Labor Statistics. Trump last week ousted the Labor Department's data expert after the government issued a disappointing jobs report.
The Trump administration is ' looking at ' reclassifying marijuana as a less dangerous drug, Trump said Monday.
How much is the president pocketing off the presidency? An estimated $3.5 billion, according to one detailed tally.
Leading the Day
CHIPS: The two largest chipmakers in the U.S., Nvidia and AMD, have struck an unusual agreement with the federal government to share some of their revenue from chip sales to China — a deal that experts say raises constitutional questions and may create a new precedent for company trade negotiations. The two firms have agreed to share 15 percent of the revenue generated from selling advanced artificial intelligence (AI) chips to China in order to secure export licenses after a months-long pause, a U.S. official confirmed to The Hill's Julia Shapero.
'I said, 'I want 20 percent if I'm going to approve this for you,'' Trump told reporters Monday during a White House press conference. 'For the country, for our country. I don't want it myself. …. And he said, 'Would you make it 15?' So we negotiate a little deal.'
Under the agreement, Nvidia will share 15 percent of its revenue from H20 chip sales to China, while AMD will share the same portion of its MI308 chip sales. The new revenue-sharing agreement comes after Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang met with Trump at the White House last week. Huang has found himself in a tricky situation, balancing Washington's and Beijing's interests as both countries vie for AI dominance.
The deal sparked backlash from lawmakers on both sides of the aisle, as well as former trade officials, who questioned its legality.
'It's bizarre in many respects and pretty troubling because Congress didn't have anything to say about this,' Gary Hufbauer, a nonresident senior fellow at the Peterson Institute for International Economics, told The Hill. ' It's just the president's own negotiating with the individual companies. That's not how historically we've done business in this country.'
▪ Bloomberg News: China urged local companies to avoid using Nvidia's H20 processors, complicating the company's attempts to recoup billions in revenue as well as the Trump administration's unprecedented push for a deal.
TARIFFS: Trump on Monday extended by 90 days the tariff deadline for China, which was set to take effect today. During the latest negotiations, the U.S. reduced its China tariffs to 30 percent while China lowered its tariffs on U.S. goods to 10 percent and agreed to export rare earth minerals.
Monday's extension is the latest example of Trump's changing positions on tariffs, which have made U.S. trade policy unpredictable for many businesses.
▪ NPR: Trump's tariff revenue has skyrocketed. But how big is it, really?
▪ The New York Times: Small businesses brace for the punishing side effects of Trump's tariffs.
▪ Bloomberg News: Gold will not be tariffed, Trump said Monday on social media.
COURTS: A federal judge on Monday refused the Justice Department's request to unseal grand jury materials used to charge Ghislaine Maxwell, the longtime accomplice of convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein. The Trump administration sought to break the normal secrecy of grand jury proceedings amid mounting public pressure, including from much of the president's political base, to release more files on the case.
The judge's rebuke of the government's ask was pointed; for weeks, the White House has faced steady pressure to release more information about Epstein, including from members of the president's base.
'Contrary to the Government's depiction, the Maxwell grand jury testimony is not a matter of significant historical or public interest. Far from it,' U.S. District Judge Paul Engelmayer wrote in his 31-page ruling. 'It consists of garden-variety summary testimony by two law enforcement agents. And the information it contains is already almost entirely a matter of longstanding public record.'
When and Where
The president has no public schedule.
The White House daily press briefing is scheduled at 1 p.m.
The House will hold a pro forma session at 9 a.m. and will return to work in Washington on Sept. 2.
The Senate will hold a pro forma session at 8 a.m.
Economic indicator: The Consumer Price Index for July will be released at 8:30 a.m. It's a closely watched report for inflation.
Zoom In
GOVERNMENT WEAPONIZATION? Lawmakers and advocates are sounding the alarm over a series of actions taken by the Justice Department and intelligence community that they say are both abuses of power and threats to the traditional independence held by both organizations.
The FBI agreed to aid the Texas government last week in tracking down Democratic members of the state Legislature who fled in an effort to block a redistricting plan that would net the GOP five seats in the midterms. The commitment came as the FBI fired a series of agents, including those who had worked on controversial matters related to Trump.
Meanwhile, the Justice Department subpoenaed New York Attorney General Letitia James (D) for documents related to court victories against the Trump Organization and the National Rifle Association. The same day, the department tapped Ed Martin to investigate James as well as Sen. Adam Schiff (D-Calif.) on allegations of mortgage fraud.
Democrats sent a letter to FBI Director Kash Patel and Attorney General Pam Bondi asking for the legal basis on which the bureau could be involved in tracking down the Texas lawmakers.
'These reports suggest that the FBI is diverting federal law enforcement away from fighting terrorism, drug trafficking, and other federal crimes to instead harass and target Texans' duly elected representatives, and thus raise urgent questions about the legal basis, scale, and appropriateness of federal law enforcement involvement in a state-level political matter,' Reps. Robert Garcia (Calif.) and Jamie Raskin (Md.), the top Democrats on the House Oversight and Judiciary committees, respectively, wrote in a letter also signed by Texas Democratic Reps. Greg Casar and Jasmine Crockett.
The group of about 50 Texas Democratic lawmakers remain in several blue states — most in Illinois — to block a quorum in the state Legislature. Texas House Speaker Dustin Burrows (R) reconvened the legislative chamber on Monday but was four members short of reaching the quorum to proceed to redistricting, flood relief and other issues.
'Those runaway Democrats are required to act on that agenda. They're failing to do their duty,' Texas Gov. Greg Abbott (R) told CNN's Jake Tapper on Monday. 'They can remain in hiding for literally years, tying the hands of the state of Texas from performing essential government needs. That cannot be allowed.'
BLUE STATES FIGHT BACK: Newsom warned Trump and Republican governors in a Monday letter that if they push forward with their redistricting proposals, he will also implement mid-decade redistricting efforts in his state.
In a letter to the president, Newsom said California 'cannot stand idly by' as Texas attempts to create Republican-favored congressional maps.
'If you will not stand down, I will be forced to lead an effort to redraw the maps in California to offset the rigging of maps in red states,' Newsom said. 'But if the other states call off their redistricting efforts, we will happily do the same. And American democracy will be better for it.'
The Hill's Julia Mueller breaks down Newsom's possible next steps.
▪ Axios: Former Attorney General Eric Holder will meet virtually with House Democrats this week to discuss how to fight Republicans' mid-decade redistricting.
Elsewhere
UKRAINE: Ahead of Friday's summit between Trump and Russian President Vladimir Putin, Trump on Monday criticized Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky over the leader's resistance to cede territory to Russia, saying he disagrees 'very, very severely' with Zelensky.
'I get along with Zelensky, but, you know, I disagree with what he's done, very, very severely disagree,' Trump told reporters at the White House, referring to Russia's more than three-year war in Ukraine. 'This is a war that should have never happened.'
Zelensky on Monday said intelligence and military officials had briefed him 'on what Putin is counting on and what he is actually preparing for,' as the summit approaches, saying 'this includes military preparations.'
'He is certainly not preparing to cease fire or end the war,' Zelensky said. 'Putin's sole aim is to present a meeting with America as his personal victory and then continue acting as before, putting pressure on Ukraine as before.'
Trump has said the meeting with Putin in Alaska will touch on some territorial swapping for 'the betterment of both' countries, a proposal Zelensky on Saturday staunchly opposed. His criticism of the war shifted from Putin to Zelensky and back again.
Trump on Monday declared that when he meets with Putin, 'probably in the first two minutes I'll know exactly whether or not a deal can get done,' and insisted he would be ready to walk away from negotiations and continue to let Russia and Ukraine battle it out.
Trump says he will call Ukrainian and European leaders ahead of the meeting and suggested there could be another possible meeting down the line involving Ukrainian and Russian leaders.
'It's clear Putin wants a photo with the most influential people on Earth, which is President Trump, and he wants sanctions to be postponed, which he'll probably get,' the European Union's foreign policy chief, Kaja Kallas, told the BBC. 'The question is, what is success for the U.S. in the meeting? If President Zelensky is there, it would be a clear success.'
▪ NPR: What's at stake as Trump prepares to meet Putin in Alaska?
▪ The Hill: Amid the upcoming talks, one of Kyiv's priorities is securing the release of Ukrainian soldiers captured on the battlefield.
▪ CNN: Panic in eastern Ukraine as Trump entertains idea of giving parts of it to Russia.
GAZA: Outrage is growing In Israel and abroad over Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's planned new Gaza offensive, even as Palestinians reported the heaviest bombardments in weeks on Monday. Netanyahu said he expected to complete the new expanded offensive against Hamas 'fairly quickly.'
Trump stopped short of directly endorsing Israel's plans in an interview with Axios on Monday, but he said he didn't believe Hamas would release the hostages unless the situation changed.
Trump said Israel has to decide what to do next and also whether to allow Hamas to remain in Gaza, but that in his opinion 'they can't stay there.'
'I have one thing to say: Remember October 7, remember October 7,' Trump emphasized, referring to the Hamas attack.
An association of Israel air force reserve and retired pilots issued a statement calling for an 'immediate end to the futile war and urgent action to bring the hostages home.'
'The war being waged in Gaza is exacting an unbearable toll from hostages who have languished in captivity for 676 days, is risking our soldiers' lives in vain, is causing unnecessary harm to innumerable innocent civilians, and is degrading Israel's standing in the world to an unprecedented low,' it said on Sunday.
▪ The New York Times: An Israeli airstrike that deliberately killed several Al Jazeera journalists aggravated tensions between Israel and Qatar, which funds the television network and is also a central mediator in Gaza peace talks.
▪ The Hill: Australia will recognize a Palestinian state in September.
▪ The Hill: Secretary of State Marco Rubio condemned the assassination of Colombian senator and presidential hopeful Miguel Uribe Turbay, who died Monday after being shot during a June campaign rally.
Opinion
The Closer
© The Associated Press | Bill Ingalls, NASA
And finally … 🌠 Look up! The visibility of the ongoing Perseid meteor shower, considered one of the best shows in space, will peak in the predawn hours into Wednesday, according to experts. Meteor hunters searching for fireballs need a dark sky location to catch a glimpse in optimal conditions of up to 100 shooting stars per hour.
'The average person under dark skies could see somewhere between 40 and 50 Perseids per hour,' said Bill Cooke, lead for NASA's Meteoroid Environments Office. 'Instead, you're probably going to see 10 to 20 per hour or fewer, and that's because we have a bright moon in the sky washing out the fainter meteors.'