Trump puts DC police department under federal control, deploys National Guard
"We're here for a very serious purpose. Very serious, very," Trump said. "Something's out of control. But we're going to put it in control very quickly, like we did in the southern border. I'm announcing a historic action to rescue our nation's capital from crime, bloodshed, bedlam and squalor. And worse, this is Liberation Day in DC, and we're going to take our capital back."
He said he was declaring a public safety emergency, putting the Washington, D.C., police department under federal control and deploying the National Guard.
Trump announced that Attorney General Pam Bondi will be taking command of the Metropolitan Police Department and DEA Administrator Terry Cole will be interim federal commissioner of the Metropolitan Police Department.
He delivered his message standing beside Bondi, Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth, U. S. Attorney for the District of Columbia Jeanine Pirro, FBI Director Kash Patel and Interior Secretary Doug Burgum who will all play a role in the takeover Trump announced.
"Let me be crystal clear. Crime in DC is ending and ending today. We are going to use every power we have to fight criminals here," Bondi said.
The president promoted the news conference in multiple posts on his social media platform and on Sunday posted that it would "also be about Cleanliness and the General Physical Renovation and Condition of our once beautiful and well maintained Capital."
In a separate post, Trump said the homeless should leave D.C., accompanied by photos of homeless encampments along his route from the White House to his golf club in Sterling, Virginia.
"The Homeless have to move out, IMMEDIATELY. We will give you places to stay, but FAR from the Capital," Trump wrote. "The Criminals, you don't have to move out. We're going to put you in jail where you belong."
The news conference comes after Trump last week ordered an increase in law enforcement as part of an executive order he signed in March to "Make the District of Columbia Safe and Beautiful."
Contrary to the president's claim, preliminary year-to-date crime comparisons from Washington's Metropolitan Police Department show that overall crime in D.C. has decreased by 7% since last year, with violent crime down 26% and property crime reduced by 5%.
A White House official said the law enforcement effort a "whole of government approach to improve overall public safety" and said that law enforcement will "be focused on high traffic tourist areas and other known hotspots."
The official added that federal officers "will be identified, in marked units, and highly visible."
Trump said Sunday that he has given D.C. Mayor Muriel Bowser an opportunity to reduce crime rates but she has failed to do that.
MORE: 19-year-old former DOGE worker assaulted in DC carjacking attempt, say police
"The Mayor of D.C., Muriel Bowser, is a good person who has tried, but she has been given many chances, and the Crime Numbers get worse, and the City only gets dirtier and less attractive. The American Public is not going to put up with it any longer," he claimed.
Bowser said Sunday that Washington has spent the last two years driving down violent crime, 'driving it down to a 30 year low, in fact.'
'It is true that we had a terrible spike in crime in 2023, but this is not 2023, this is 2025 and we've done that by working with the community, working with the police, working with our prosecutors, and, in fact, working with the federal government," Bowser told MSNBC.
MORE: Murdered Congressional intern's mom says Trump should take over Washington, DC
On Saturday, Trump said the nation's capital has become 'one of the most dangerous cities anywhere in the World.'
Last week he threatened to deploy the National Guard to D.C. and, as he has on several occasions since he was inaugurated in January, suggested that there should be a federal takeover.
That call came after Edward Coristine, a former Department of Government Efficiency employee, was beaten after he tried to break up a carjacking in D.C.
"So whether you call it federalize or what. And that also includes the graffiti that you see, the papers all over the place, the roads that are in bad shape, the medians that are falling down, the median in between roads, it's falling down,' Trump said in the Oval Office on Wednesday.
'We're going to beautify the city. We're going to make it beautiful. And, what a shame. Rate of crime, the rate of muggings, killings and everything else. We're not going to let it. And that includes bringing in the National Guard, maybe very quickly.'
White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt said in a statement last week, 'Washington, DC is an amazing city, but it has been plagued by violent crime for far too long. President Trump has directed an increased presence of federal law enforcement to protect innocent citizens. There will be no safe harbor for violent criminals in D.C. President Trump is committed to making our Nation's capital safer for its residents, lawmakers, and visitors from all around the world.'
The seven-day law enforcement effort is being led by the U.S. Park Police but includes personnel from the Metro Transit Police Department, Amtrak Police Department, United States Capitol Police, Washington's Metro Police Department, Homeland Security Investigations, Federal Protective Service, Enforcement and Removal Operations, Drug Enforcement Administration, Federal Bureau of Investigation, Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms, and Explosives, United States Marshals Service, United States Attorney's Office-District of Columbia, Department of Interior, Pre-Trial Services Agency, Court Services and Offender Supervision Agency (CSOSA), the White House official said.
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