National Guards flood D.C. as Donald Trump seizes police powers, questions crime drop, & sends FBI agents into night patrols
Earlier in the day, Trump posted on Truth Social, declaring, 'Washington, D.C. will be LIBERATED today!' He added that crime and disorder would 'disappear' and pledged to 'MAKE OUR CAPITAL GREAT AGAIN.'
Federal control and deployment plans
According to a Defense Department official, several hundred National Guard troops are expected to be activated in Washington. While the District of Columbia's National Guard is not under the control of a governor, the president has direct authority to deploy them. The administration also plans to temporarily reassign 120 FBI agents to nighttime patrol duties in the city.
Trump has repeatedly claimed that crime in D.C. is 'totally out of control,' despite Justice Department data showing violent crime at a 30-year low as of January. The administration has disputed the accuracy of those statistics, citing allegations from a police union that the figures have been manipulated.
Trigger for the action
The latest calls for federal intervention came after Edward Coristine, a 19-year-old software engineer and early staffer in the White House's Department of Government Efficiency, was reportedly assaulted in an attempted carjacking earlier this month. Trump shared Coristine's photo on social media, warning that without action, federal control of the city would be unavoidable.
In a separate post, Trump said the city's homeless population would have to 'move out immediately,' adding that alternative accommodation would be provided 'far from the Capital.'
As you listen to an unhinged Trump try to justify deploying the National Guard in DC, here's reality:Violent crime in DC is at a 30-year low.https://t.co/aa33NmPBbN pic.twitter.com/zicp8uauLf
Mayor's response and legal context
D.C. Mayor Muriel Bowser pushed back on Trump's comments, telling MSNBC that the city remains a place where people 'start businesses, raise families,' and that comparisons to war zones are 'hyperbolic and false.'
This is not the first time Trump has used the National Guard in a domestic context. In his previous term, Guard troops were deployed to Los Angeles to support immigration enforcement and to clear protests in Washington during the 2020 Black Lives Matter demonstrations. California Governor Gavin Newsom later sued the administration over the Los Angeles deployment, with a trial on that lawsuit beginning Monday.
Trump also criticized the $3.1 billion renovation of the Federal Reserve headquarters, calling it wasteful and saying it could have been completed for between $50 million and $100 million.
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