Trump takes over DC police, deploys National Guard
Trump's move, which bypassed the city's elected leaders, was emblematic of his second-term approach, which has seen him wield executive authority in ways with little precedent in modern US history and in defiance of political norms.
The president cast his actions as necessary to "rescue" Washington from a purported wave of lawlessness. Statistics show that violent crime shot up in 2023 but has been rapidly declining since.
"Our capital city has been overtaken by violent gangs and bloodthirsty criminals," Trump told a news conference at the White House.
It is the second time this summer that the Republican president has deployed troops to a Democratically governed city. Trump sent thousands of National Guard troops to Los Angeles in June over the objections of state and local officials.
And Trump signalled that other major US cities with Democratic leadership could be next, including Chicago, a city that has long been beset by violent crime, although it was down significantly in the first half of the year.
"If we need to, we're going to do the same thing in Chicago, which is a disaster," Trump said at the White House, adding, "Hopefully LA is watching."
Trump has shown particular interest in taking over Washington, which is under the jurisdiction of Congress but exercises self-governance under a 1973 US law.
Hundreds of officers and agents from more than a dozen federal agencies, including the FBI, ICE, DEA and ATF, have fanned out across the city in recent days. Attorney General Pam Bondi will oversee the police force takeover, Trump said.
The US Army said the National Guard troops would carry out a number of tasks, including "administrative, logistics and physical presence in support of law enforcement." Between 100 and 200 of the troops would be supporting law enforcement at any given time.
The Democratic mayor of Washington, Muriel Bowser, has pushed back on Trump's claims of unchecked violence, saying the city is "not experiencing a crime spike" and highlighting that violent crime hit its lowest level in more than three decades last year.
Violent crime, including murders, spiked in 2023, turning Washington into one of the nation's deadliest cities. However, violent crime dropped 35% in 2024, according to federal data, and it has fallen an additional 26% in the first seven months of 2025, according to city police.
The city's attorney general, Brian Schwalb, called Trump's actions "unprecedented, unnecessary and unlawful" in an X post, and said his office was "considering all of our options."
Bowser did not immediately comment on Trump's announcement, though other Democrats weighed in.
"Donald Trump has no basis to take over the local police department. And zero credibility on the issue of law and order. Get lost," House of Representatives Democratic Leader Hakeem Jeffries wrote on X. TRUMP RAMPS UP RHETORIC
Over the past week, Trump has intensified his messaging, suggesting he might attempt to strip the city of its local autonomy and implement a full federal takeover.
The District of Columbia operates under the Home Rule Act, which gives Congress ultimate authority but allows residents to elect a mayor and city council. Trump said last week that lawyers are examining how to overturn the law, a move that would likely require Congress to revoke it.
Trump on Monday invoked a section of the act that allows the president to take over the police force for 30 days when "emergency" conditions exist. Trump said he was declaring a "public safety emergency" in the city.
Trump's own Federal Emergency Management Agency is cutting security funding for the National Capital Region, an area that includes D.C. and parts of Maryland and Virginia. The region will receive $20 million less this year from the federal urban security fund, amounting to a 44% year-on-year cut.
Trump also vowed to remove homeless encampments, though he did not provide details on how or where homeless people would be moved.
The federal government owns much of Washington's parkland, so the Trump administration has legal authority to clear homeless encampments in those areas, as President Joe Biden did while in office. But the federal government cannot force people to move out of the city because they lack shelter, advocates for the homeless said. TRIAL BEGINS
A federal trial began on Monday in San Francisco on whether Trump violated US law by deploying 4,000 National Guard troops and 700 US Marines in Los Angeles without the approval of Democratic Governor Gavin Newsom.
The troops were sent in response to protests over raids by federal immigration agents. State and local officials objected to Trump's decision as unnecessary, unlawful and inflammatory.
The president has broad authority over the 2,700 members of the D.C. National Guard, unlike in states where governors typically hold the power to activate troops. Guard troops have been dispatched to Washington many times, including in response to the January 6, 2021, attack on the US Capitol by a mob of Trump supporters.
During his first term, Trump sent the National Guard into Washington in 2020 to help quash mostly peaceful demonstrations during nationwide protests over police brutality following the murder of George Floyd. Civil rights leaders and city leaders denounced the deployment.
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1News
8 hours ago
- 1News
Feds will be out 24/7 on patrol in Washington DC, White House says
As a wary Washington waited, the White House promised a ramp-up of National Guard troops and federal officers on the streets of the nation's capital around the clock starting Thursday, days after President Donald Trump's unprecedented announcement that his administration would take over the city's police department for at least a month. The city's Democratic mayor walked a political tightrope, referring to the takeover as an 'authoritarian push' at one point and later framing the infusion of officers as boost to public safety, though one with few specific barometers for success. The Republican president has said crime in the city was at emergency levels that only such federal intervention could fix — even as District of Columbia leaders pointed to statistics showing violent crime at a 30-year low after a sharp rise two years ago. For two days, small groups of federal officers have been visible in scattered areas of the city. That is about to change, the administration says. () A 'significantly higher' presence of guard members was expected Wednesday night (local time), and federal agents will be out during the day as well as at night, according to the White House. Hundreds of federal law enforcement and city police officers who patrolled the streets Tuesday night (local time) made 43 arrests, compared with about two dozen the night before. ADVERTISEMENT In one neighbourhood, officers from the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives and the FBI could be seen along with the US Park Police searching the car of a motorist parked just outside a legal parking area to eat takeout and drop off a friend. Two blocks away, US Customs and Border Protection officers gathered in a parking lot before driving off on patrol. Agents from various agencies including Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives, Park Police, and FBI, question a couple who had been parked outside a legal parking zone while eating McDonald's (Source: Associated Press) In other parts of the city, including those with popular nightlife hot spots, federal patrols were harder to find. At the National Mall, there was little law enforcement activity aside from Park Police cruisers pulling over a taxi driver near the Washington Monument. Unlike in other US states and cities, the law gives Trump the power to take over Washington's police for up to 30 days. Extending his power over the city for longer would require approval from Congress, and that could be tough in the face of Democratic resistance. Trump suggested Thursday that he could seek a longer period of control or decide to call on Congress to exercise authority over city laws his administration sees as lax on crime. 'We're gonna do this very quickly. But we're gonna want extensions. I don't want to call a national emergency. If I have to, I will,' he said. Targeting a variety of infractions Agents with US Customs and Border Protection as well as Metropolitan Police wait in a parking lot before driving along Kennedy Street NW in a caravan (Source: Associated Press) ADVERTISEMENT The arrests made by 1450 federal and local officers across the city included those for suspicion of driving under the influence and unlawful entry, as well as a warrant for assault with a deadly weapon, according to the White House. Seven illegal firearms were seized. There have now been more than 100 arrests since Trump began beefing up the federal law enforcement presence in Washington last week, White House spokeswoman Taylor Rogers said. 'President Trump is delivering on his campaign promise to clean up this city and restore American Greatness to our cherished capital,' she said. The morning's headlines in 90 seconds, including police fatally shoot a woman in Christchurch, sausages recalled over glass fears, and why McDonalds Japan isn't loving its customers right now (Source: 1News) The president has full command of the National Guard, but as of Tuesday evening (local time), guard members had yet to be assigned a specific mission, according to an official who was not authorised to discuss the matter publicly and spoke on condition of anonymity. As many as 800 troops were expected to be mobilised in a support role to law enforcement, though exactly what form remains to be determined. The push also includes clearing out encampments for people who are homeless, Trump has said. US Park Police have removed dozens of tents since March, and plan to take out two more this week, White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt has said. People are offered the chance to go to shelters and get addiction treatment, if needed, but those who refuse could be fined or jailed, she said. City officials said they are making more shelter space available and increasing their outreach. Violent crime has dropped in the district ADVERTISEMENT Vehicles with law enforcement agents from the US Customs and Border Protection as well as Metropolitan Police drive along Kennedy Street NW (Source: Associated Press) The federal effort comes even after a drop in violent crime in the nation's capital, a trend that experts have seen in cities across the US since an increase during the coronavirus pandemic. On average, the level of violence in Washington remains mostly higher than averages in three dozen cities analysed by the nonprofit Council on Criminal Justice, said the group's president and CEO, Adam Gelb. Police Chief Pamela Smith said during an interview with the local Fox affiliate that the city's Metro Police Department has been down nearly 800 officers. She said the increased number of federal agents on the streets would help fill that gap, at least for now. Mayor Muriel Bowser said city officials did not get any specific goals for the surge during a meeting with Trump's attorney general, Pam Bondi, and other top federal law enforcement officials. But, she said, "I think they regard it as a success to have more presence and take more guns off the street, and we do too.' Washington Mayor Muriel Bowser speaks during a news conference on President Donald Trump's plan to place Washington police under federal control and deploy National guard troops to Washington. (Source: Associated Press) She had previously called Trump's moves 'unsettling and unprecedented' while pointing out he was within a president's legal rights regarding the district, which is the seat of American government, but is not a state. For some residents, the increased presence of law enforcement and National Guard troops is nerve-racking. 'I've seen them right here at the subway ... they had my street where I live at blocked off yesterday, actually,' Washington native Sheina Taylor said. 'It's more fearful now because even though you're a law-abiding citizen, here in DC, you don't know, especially because I'm African American."
RNZ News
14 hours ago
- RNZ News
'Full sovereignty and independence': New Caledonia's FLNKS rejects France's Bougival project
The independence flag at the FLNKS press conference in Noumea. Photo: AFP / Delphine Mayeur New Caledonia's pro-independence front, the FLNKS, on Wednesday formally confirmed its "block rejection" of the French-fostered Bougival project, signed on 12 July, although it was presented as an agreement between all parties to serve as a guide for the French Pacific territory's political future. This follows the FLNKS's extraordinary Congress held at the weekend in Mont-Dore, near Nouméa. Statements made on Wednesday widely confirmed the pro-independence umbrella's unanimous rejection of the document. The FLNKS confirmed on Wednesday at a press conference its rejection of the Bougival draft agreement and called for provincial elections to be held next November. Photo: AFP / Delphine Mayeur At the weekend Congress, FLNKS president Christian Téin (speaking via telephone from mainland France), had called on FLNKS to "clearly and unequivocally" reject the Bougival document. He said document demonstrated "the administrating power's (France) contempt towards our struggle for recognition as the colonised people". However, he called on the FLNKS to "remain open to dialogue", but only focusing on ways to obtain "full sovereignty" after bilateral talks only with the French State, and no longer with the opposing local political parties (who want New Caledonia to remain a part of France). Some of the mentioned deadlines, he said, were 24 September 2025 and eventually before the end of President Macron's mandate in April 2027, when French Presidential elections are scheduled to take place. Téin was also part of the 13 August media conference, joining via videoconference, to confirm the FLNKS resolutions made at the weekend. Apart from reiterating its calendar of events, the FLNKS, in its final document, endorses the "total and unambiguous rejection" of the French-fostered document" because it is "incompatible" with the right to self-determination and bears a "logic of recolonisation" on the part of France. The document, labelled "motion of general policy", also demands that as a result of the rejection of the Bougival document, and since the previous 1998 Nouméa Accord remains in force, provincial elections previously scheduled for no later than November 2025 should now be maintained. Under the Bougival format, the provincial elections were to be postponed once again to mid-2026. "This will be a good opportunity to verify the legitimacy of those people who want to discuss the future of the country", FLNKS member Sylvain Pabouty (head of Dynamique Unitaire Sud -DUS-) told reporters. Signatures on the last page of New Caledonia's new agreement Photo: Philippe Dunoyer As for the five negotiators who, initially, put their signatures on the document on behalf of FLNKS (including chief negotiator And Union Calédonienne Chairman Emmanuel Tjibaou), they have been de-missioned and their mandate deemed null and void. "Let this be clear to everyone. This is a block rejection of all that is related to the Bougival project," FLNKS political bureau member and leader of the Labour party Marie-Pierre Goyetche told local reporters. "Bougival is behind us, end of the story. The fundamental aim is for our country to access full sovereignty and independence through a decolonisation process within the framework of international law, including the right of the peoples to dispose of themselves." She said that, from now on, the FLNKS will refuse to engage in any aspect of the Bougival document. Part of this further Bougival engagement is a "drafting committee" suggested by French Minister for Overseas Manuel Valls, aiming at elaborating all documents (including necessary bills, legal and constitutional texts) related to the general agreement signed in July. Anticipating the FLNKS decision, Valls has already announced he will travel to New Caledonia next week to pursue talks and further "clarify" the spirit of the negotiations that led to the signing. He said he would not give up and that a failure to go along with the agreed document would be "everyone's failure". The Bougival document envisages a path to more autonomy for New Caledonia, including transferring more powers (such as foreign affairs) from France. It also proposes to augment its status by creating a "State" of New Caledonia and creating a dual French/New Caledonia citizenship. The FLNKS stressed it still wanted to talk to Valls, albeit on their own terms, especially when he visits New Caledonia next week. However, according to the FLNKS "motion", this would mean only on one-to-one format (no longer inclusively with the local pro-France parties), with United Nations "technical assistance" and "under the supervision" of the FLNKS president. The only admitted subjects would then be related to a path to "full sovereignty" and further talks were only to take place in New Caledonia. As for the timeline, the FLNKS "motion" states that a "Kanaky Agreement" should be signed before 24 September, which would open a transitional period to full sovereignty not later than April 2027, in other words "before (French) Presidential elections". Goyetche also stressed that the FLNKS motion is warning France against "any new attempt to force its way", as was the case in the days preceding 13 May 2024. This is when a vote in Parliament to amend the French constitution and change the rules of eligibility for voters at New Caledonia's local provincial elections triggered deadly and destructive riots that killed 14 and caused damages worth over €2 billion (as a result of arson and looting). "It seems as if the French government wants to go through the same hardships again", Téin was heard saying through his telephone at the Wednesday conference. "Don't do the same mistake again", Pabouty spoke in a fictitious warning to Valls. In his message posted on social networks on Sunday (10 August), the French minister had blamed those who "refuse the agreement" and who "choose confrontation and let the situation rot away". At the same media conference on Wednesday, FLNKS officials also called on "all of pro-independence forces to do all in their power to peacefully stop the (French) State's agenda as agreed in Bougival". The FLNKS text, as released on Wednesday, also "reaffirms that FLNKS remains the only legitimate representative of the Kanak people, to carry its inalienable right to self-determination". Téin is the leader of the CCAT (field action coordinating cell), a group set up by Union Calédonienne late 2023 to protest against the proposed French Constitutional amendment to alter voters' rules of eligibility at local elections. The protests mainly stemmed from the perception that if the new rules were to come into force, the indigenous Kanaks would find themselves in a position of minority in their own country. Téin was arrested in June 2024 and was charged for a number of crime-related offences, as well as his alleged involvement in the May 2024 riots. He was released from jail mid-June 2025 pending his trial and under the condition that he does not return to New Caledonia for the time being. From his prison cell in Mulhouse (North-east of mainland France), Téin was however elected President of FLNKS in absentia late August 2024. At the same time, as part of the same August 2024 FLNKS meeting, CCAT was admitted as one of the new components of FLNKS, just like a number of other organisations such as trade union USTKE, the Labour party and other smaller pro-independence movement components. Also late August 2024, in a de facto split, the two main moderate pillars of FLNKS, UPM and PALIKA, at the same time, distanced themselves from the pro-independence UC-dominated platform, materialising a persisting rift within the pro-independence umbrella. They asked their supporters to stay away from the riot-related violence, which also materialised through arson, looting and the destruction of hundreds of local businesses, causing in turn thousands of job losses. UPM and PALIKA once again did not take part in the latest FLNKS meeting at the weekend. The two moderate pro-independence parties are part of the political groups who also signed the Bougival document and pledged to uphold it, as it is formulated, and keep the "Bougival spirit" in further talks. The other groups, apart from UPM and PALIKA, are pro-France (Les Loyalistes, Rassemblement-LR, Calédonie Ensemble, as well as Wallisian-based Eveil Océanien. FLNKS, even though five of their negotiators had also signed the document, has since denounced them and said their representative had "no mandate" to do so. Whereas pro-France parties had carefully chosen to not comment on the latest FLNKS moves until they were made public, the official rejection was met by a joint communiqué from Les Loyalistes and Rassemblement-LR. In a long-winded text, the two outspoken pro-France parties have "deplored" what they termed "yet another betrayal". They confirm they will meet Valls along Bougival lines when he visits next week and are now calling on a "bipartisan" committee of those supporting the Bougival text, including parties from all sides, as well as members of the civil society and "experts". They maintain that the Bougival document is "the only viable way to pull New Caledonia out of the critical situation in which it finds itself" and the "political balances" it contains "cannot be put into question".
NZ Herald
17 hours ago
- NZ Herald
Europeans, Zelenskyy try to keep Trump on board ahead of Putin summit
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