Trump places D.C. police under federal control and deploys National Guard in nation's capital: What to know
'This is liberation day in D.C. We're gonna take our capital back,' Trump told reporters at a press conference at the White House. 'Our capital city has been overtaken by violent gangs and bloodthirsty criminals, roving mobs of wild youth, drugged-out maniacs and homeless people. And we're not going to let it happen anymore.'
The president said he was taking over the Washington, D.C., Metropolitan Police and deploying about 800 National Guard troops to 'reestablish law, order and public safety' in the city.
Does Trump have the power to do that?
Broadly speaking, yes.
Trump signed an executive order Monday invoking his powers under Sec. 40 of the district's 'Home Rule Act,' which gives him the ability to temporarily take federal control of the Metropolitan Police Department. The president said he is enlisting Attorney General Pam Bondi to oversee the takeover of the MPD.
'Crime in D.C. is ending, and it's ending today,' Bondi declared.
The president did not say how long the takeover would last.
Trump issued an executive memorandum authorizing the deployment of the National Guard to address what he described as 'emergency' conditions in the capital.
Unlike in U.S. states, where the governor holds the authority to deploy the National Guard, the president has the power to do so in Washington without the consent of the local government.
Trump also confirmed reports that the FBI is deploying agents to assist local police across the city.
'We will bring in the military if needed,' Trump added.
What is the crime rate in D.C., anyway?
According to preliminary data from the Metropolitan Police Department, crime rates in Washington, D.C., are down.
Violent crime is down 26% this year compared to the same period in 2024. Property crime is down 4%. And overall crime is down 7% since last year.
In an interview with MSNBC on Sunday, Washington, D.C., Mayor Muriel Bowser pointed to those figures, noting that the violent crime rate is currently at a 30-year low.
"We are not experiencing spikes in crime," Bowser said. 'In fact, we're watching our crime numbers go down.'
The mayor also responded to a recent comment from White House deputy chief of staff Stephen Miller, who said that Washington is 'more violent than Baghdad.'
"Any comparison to a war-torn country is hyperbolic and false," she said.
How we got here
The announcement comes after the president threatened to take federal control of the capital following the Aug. 3 beating of a member of the Department of Government Efficiency by a group of teenagers during an attempted carjacking.
According to police, the victim, identified as Edward Coristine, a 19-year-old software engineer, was treated for injuries at the scene. Officers arrested two 15-year-old suspects from Maryland who were charged with attempted carjacking.
At Monday's press conference, Trump said the staffer suffered a broken nose and thought he was going to die.
'He was left dripping in blood,' the president said. 'He thought he was dead.'
Taking the lectern at Trump's request, U.S. Attorney for Washington, D.C., Jeanine Pirro lamented 'weak' laws preventing the federal government from prosecuting minors.
'I see too much violent crime being committed by young punks,' Pirro said.
Trump's crackdown on D.C.'s homeless encampments
In a Truth Social post on Sunday, Trump said the city's homeless should leave D.C.
"The Homeless have to move out, IMMEDIATELY,' Trump wrote in the post, which included photos of homeless encampments taken from his motorcade along the route between the White House and his golf club in Sterling, Va. 'We will give you places to stay, but FAR from the Capital."
Trump told reporters Monday that authorities were already in the process of removing the encampments.
'We're getting rid of the slums too,' Trump added.
Solve the daily Crossword
Hashtags
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
Yahoo
a minute ago
- Yahoo
Zelenskyy prepares for fresh White House visit - as Putin issues first comments after summit
Volodymyr Zelenskyy has said he is preparing for his meeting with Donald Trump - as Vladimir Putin issued his first comments following the US-Russia talks on the war in Ukraine. The Ukrainian president will fly to Washington DC for the next stage of talks on Monday, which could pave the way for a three-way meeting alongside the Russian leader, Mr Trump has said. It comes following a high-profile summit between the US president and Mr Putin, held in Alaska on Friday. US-Russia talks on Ukraine - latest updates The US president had heavily previewed the talks, threatening sanctions for Russia should there be no agreement on a ceasefire. But a short news briefing following the summit ended with no mention of a ceasefire, no agreement on how to end the war, and little clarity about the next steps. On Saturday, Mr Trump appeared to change his stance on what he hopes to achieve from the talks, indicating he wants a permanent peace settlement rather than a ceasefire, and announced the follow-up meeting with Mr Zelenskyy. In a post on X, the Ukrainian president said he was grateful for the invitation and added: "It is important that everyone agrees there needs to be a conversation at the level of leaders to clarify all the details and determine which steps are necessary and will work." However, he said Russia had rebuffed "numerous calls for a ceasefire and has not yet determined when it will stop the killing", which "complicates the situation". Mr Zelenskyy continued: "If they lack the will to carry out a simple order to stop the strikes, it may take a lot of effort to get Russia to have the will to implement far greater - peaceful coexistence with its neighbours for decades. "But together we are working for peace and security. Stopping the killing is a key element of stopping the war." The Ukrainian president's last visit to the White House earlier this year descended into a fiery spat with Mr Trump and his vice president JD Vance that saw him leave early. Mr Putin issued his first statement on Saturday afternoon following the Friday's summit, describing the talks as "timely and quite useful" - but said the "removal" of what he calls the "root causes" of the crisis "must underlie the settlement". He continued: "We definitely respect the US administration's position which wants the hostilities to stop as soon as possible. So do we, and we would like to move forward with settling all issues by peaceful means. "The conversation was very frank and substantive, which, in my view, moves us closer towards making necessary decisions." Read more: In calls on Saturday, Mr Trump told Mr Zelenskyy that the Russian leader had offered to freeze frontlines elsewhere if Kyiv agreed to withdraw from the eastern Donetsk and Luhansk regions, a person familiar with the matter told the Reuters news agency. US envoy Steve Witkoff told Ukraine's leader that Mr Putin had said there could be no ceasefire without this, and that the Russian president could pledge not to launch any new aggression against Ukraine as part of an arrangement. Meanwhile, European leaders who make up the "coalition of the willing" are set to hold a conference call tomorrow ahead of the crunch talks between Mr Trump and Mr Zelenskyy. In a statement on Saturday, Prime Minister Keir Starmer said the US leader's efforts had "brought us closer than ever before to ending Russia's illegal war in Ukraine" and that his leadership "in pursuit of an end to the killing should be commended". He said he supported the next phase of talks, but added: "In the meantime, until (Putin) stops his barbaric assault, we will keep tightening the screws on his war machine with even more sanctions."
Yahoo
a minute ago
- Yahoo
Prop B discussion hints at renewal question
Joplin council members and city officials are beginning talks on whether to try to renew the Proposition B sales tax because the police and fire pension fund it was put in place to address may close out several years earlier than expected. The half-cent tax approved by voters in 2019 addressed a low funding ratio in the Police and Firemen's Pension Fund. It is commonly called the pension tax. It was intended to bring the pension fund up to a funding level of 120% of benefits owed. It was projected that could take up to 12 years. But the pension plan's actuary recently projected that the plan could be fully funded, or reach the agreed upon 120% level of benefits owed, in early 2027. That would be five years earlier than the 12-year sunset given to fully fund pension obligations when the tax was proposed to voters. The actuarial report states that the plan's funded ratio as of Oct. 31, 2024, was at 90.1%. That percentage could fluctuate with market conditions, the city's contribution rate and other factors. Proposition B last year provided more than $8.6 million that was paid into the fund, which exceeded the actuarial recommended contributions for the year by more than $5.5 million, according to the actuary report. LAGERS In order to provide better retirement benefits at a lower cost to police officers and firefighters in the future, part of the Proposition B plan was to transition those employees and retirees who wished to move their coverage to the Missouri LAGERS pension plan and get them out of the city plan. LAGERS is the largest pension plan in the state for government employees. The city's finance director, Leslie Haase, said the final members of the pension plan are finishing up transitioning to LAGERS unless they opt to stay in the local pension fund. She intends to have a report on that status in September, she said. Council members discussed the handling of past sales tax campaigns for police and fire expenses at a work session Monday. Council member Ryan Jackson said of a Proposition B renewal, 'I think it's a great idea to keep that funding mechanism in place,' though he expressed concerns about going too far with campaign statements, such as those who said of Prop B that 'This is what is going to take care of these departments forever.' But the campaign gave voters a clear, strong message, he added. 'What I think gave that the resounding success is that it wasn't the mayor and city staff handing the rest of us, 'Here is the plan.' They said, 'We're here to give you some information. You guys figure it out.'' 'It kind of came down to three options. We did some public information gathering, working with the unions and department heads, and that's how we ended up with the public safety sales tax proposition and the council got the Chamber of Commerce to back it. I think it really made a difference and I want to make sure when we do this that we do it right and do everything we can.' The measure was promoted by the chamber with the slogan that it was 'A Better Plan for Joplin.' Mayor Keenan Cortez talked about the successful passage of the first half-cent public safety sales tax in 2004. It has funded the construction of new fire stations, the Public Safety Training Center, and the addition of needed firefighters and police officers to the city departments. 'I will also add that during that time in 2004 when we were working on that ... the city had come up with what was a pretty good plan and it looked it was going to be a long-term plan or solution to a problem that the city had for a while. And then 20 years happened. And there was a global pandemic, a recession in 2008, and a lot of things took place. ... I remember what we were paying police officers then, and it's almost double now. The costs of goods and services has almost gone through the roof' since that tax was approved. The mayor said he agrees that residents need to be involved in the process, 'but I caution to call it the solution, or the fix-all, or greatest next thing, because who knows what we're going to have 20 years from now. So, we can make the best plans we can right now, and I think Prop B renewal is one of the best plans we can do going forward, but I just caution that it is going to be end-all, fix-all' for public safety pay. Councilman Josh Bard said he agreed with the idea of getting a group of people to represent the proposal. Details on what the city would use a renewed Proposition B tax to fund were not discussed. Solve the daily Crossword
Yahoo
a minute ago
- Yahoo
Connor Stalions' attorney invokes O.J. Simpson while blasting NCAA after he's hit with 8-year show-cause
Connor Stalions' legal team predictably has some complaints about the NCAA's sanctions against him and the Michigan football program. A day after the NCAA announced it was fining the Wolverines an eight-figure sum and hitting Stalions with an eight-year show-cause penalty, Stalions' attorney Brad Beckworth released a 779-word statement blasting the organization for a "vendetta" against his client: He also had plenty of praise for Stalions as a person, adding that Stalions still plans to be involved in football despite the show-cause: "We are not surprised by the NCAA's ruling because the NCAA did, as it has always done, the wrong thing. Based on the penalties laid down today, it is obvious that this whole ordeal was just another, last-ditch effort by the NCAA in its perpetual, petty witch hunt of Coach Harbaugh. Connor was just the vehicle through which the NCAA could give itself the last word in this vendetta. "Connor will be fine. He is a wonderful person. He's smart. He's loyal, dedicated, and determined—traits he carries with him onto the football field from his days serving his country to protect all of us. He loves helping young people learn about life and football. And, regardless of what the NCAA says today, he plans to continue learning about and contributing to the game of football at is highest levels." A show-cause penalty is a requirement that any school who tries to hire the coach in question must justify it to the NCAA. It often acts as a de facto ban from college athletics in the more serious and public cases. Stalions was the central figure in the scandal that nearly consumed Michigan's 2023 championship season. The beats of the story — in which Stalions was alleged to have illegally stolen signs from teams with the knowledge of the Michigan coaching staff — are well known, but Beckworth insisted that the NCAA's handling of the matter compromised its integrity, pointing to the Netflix documentary "Sign Stealer" as the true story: "Connor already won. We knew he was going to be railroaded the moment the NCAA first leaked this story in violation of its own rules. The NCAA decided it would target and punish him in 2023. So, rather than let them ruin his career in silence, he decided to expose the NCAA for the fraud it is in documentary Sign Stealer. Rather than let the NCAA continue to hide in secret, we decided to let the public see the truth for itself. And what the public saw revealed what we already knew to be true: this was a rigged investigation; enveloped in impropriety (namely, a "confidential source" that the NCAA still won't reveal); and all premised on an antiquated rule that the member institutions themselves have tried to eliminate as something that "no longer serve[s] the needs of the membership and the 21st century student-athlete." "The enforcement staff and the NCAA made it very clear that their feelings were hurt when they were exposed on Sign Stealer. But, through that process, the entire country saw the NCAA's investigation for what it was—a sham. The only way to deal with a bully and hypocrite is to expose them to the public and make sure everyone knows exactly what they are trying to do behind closed doors. We did that. We will continue to fight the NCAA anywhere and everywhere we can." He insisted multiple times the case against Stalions would not have passed muster in an actual court room, then took one of the biggest swings possible by pointing to the O.J. Simpson case: "The NCAA claims to be about protecting amateurism in college sports. It does not. The halls of the NCAA headquarters are lined with millions-of-dollars' worth of art paid for on the backs of superstars like Johnny Manziel, Reggie Bush, and the thousands of student athletes who worked for free while the NCAA and its member institutions profited billions. Let's not forget that while the NCAA went after Reggie Bush after he left USC, and took his Heisman away, it let USC continue to proudly display O.J. Simpson's Heisman in Heritage Hall." Stalions was one of four coaches individually sanctioned in the Michigan coach. The others were current head coach Sherrone Moore (hit with an additional one-game suspension and a two-year show-cause), former head coach Jim Harbaugh (10-year show-cause) and former assistant Denard Robinson (three-year show-cause). Stalions' former supervisor Charlie Partridge, who was later fired in relation to the scandal, was cleared in the investigation. Michigan quickly announced it would appeal the ruling. Meanwhile, Beckworth said Stalions is "glad that this process is now behind him," indicating there will be no further action from their side.
