Latest news with #executiveauthority
Japan Times
5 days ago
- Politics
- Japan Times
Trump takes over D.C. police and deploys national guard in Washington
U.S. President Donald Trump said on Monday he was deploying 800 national guard troops to Washington and temporarily taking over the city's police department, an extraordinary assertion of presidential power in the nation's capital. 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 U.S. 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. A federal trial began on Monday in San Francisco on whether Trump violated U.S. law by deploying national guard troops to Los Angeles in June without the approval of California Gov. Gavin Newsom. And Trump signaled that other major U.S. 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." During Trump's election campaign, his law and order platform often had racial undertones. He singled out majority Democratic cities like Baltimore, Chicago and Washington — all cities with large Black populations — when he spoke about rampant crime in urban areas. Hundreds of officers and agents from more than a dozen federal agencies have fanned out across Washington in recent days. Attorney General Pam Bondi will oversee the police force, Trump said. The U.S. 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, noting that violent crime hit its lowest level in more than three decades last year. Violent crime, including murders, soared 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. Bowser struck a diplomatic tone at a news conference, saying she and other members of her administration would work with the federal government, even as she again rejected Trump's claim of widespread crime. While Bowser said the law appeared to give the president broad power to take temporary control of the police force, the city's attorney general, Brian Schwalb, earlier called Trump's actions "unlawful" and said his office was "considering all of our options." 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 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 Washington 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, without providing 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. 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 Jan. 6, 2021, attack on the U.S. Capitol by Trump supporters, and during 2020 protests over police brutality.
Arab News
5 days ago
- Politics
- Arab News
Trump takes over DC police in extraordinary move, deploys National Guard in capital
WASHINGTON: US President Donald Trump said on Monday he was deploying 800 National Guard troops to Washington and temporarily taking over the city's police department, an extraordinary assertion of presidential power in the nation's capital. 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. A federal trial began on Monday in San Francisco on whether Trump violated US law by deploying National Guard troops to Los Angeles in June without the approval of California Governor Gavin Newsom. And Trump signaled 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 L.A. is watching.' During Trump's election campaign his law and order platform often had racial undertones. He singled out majority Democratic cities like Baltimore, Chicago and Washington — all cities with large Black populations — when he spoke about rampant crime in urban areas. Hundreds of officers and agents from more than a dozen federal agencies have fanned out across Washington in recent days. Attorney General Pam Bondi will oversee the police force, 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, noting that violent crime hit its lowest level in more than three decades last year. Violent crime, including murders, soared in 2023, turning Washington into one of the nation's deadliest cities. However, violent crime dropped 35 percent in 2024, according to federal data, and it has fallen an additional 26 percent in the first seven months of 2025, according to city police. Bowser struck a diplomatic tone at a news conference, saying she and other members of her administration would work with the federal government, even as she again rejected Trump's claim of widespread crime. While Bowser said the law appeared to give the president broad power to take temporary control of the police force, the city's attorney general, Brian Schwalb, earlier called Trump's actions 'unlawful' and said his office was 'considering all of our options.' 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 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 percent year-on-year cut. Trump also vowed to remove homeless encampments, without providing 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. 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 Trump supporters, and during 2020 protests over police brutality.
Fox News
04-08-2025
- Business
- Fox News
Trump's tariff power grab barrels toward Supreme Court
A federal court fight over President Donald Trump's authority to unilaterally impose sweeping tariffs on U.S. trading partners is expected to be appealed to the Supreme Court for review, legal experts told Fox News Digital, in a case that has already proved to be a pivotal test of executive branch authority. At issue in the case is Trump's ability to use a 1977 emergency law to unilaterally slap steep import duties on a long list of countries doing business with the U.S. In interviews with Fox News Digital, longtime trade lawyers and lawyers who argued on behalf of plaintiffs in court last week said they expect the ruling from the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit in a matter of "weeks," or sometime in August or September – in line with the court's agreement to hear the case on an "expedited" basis. The fast-track timeline reflects the important question before the court: whether Trump exceeded his authority under the International Emergency Economic Powers Act (IEEPA) when he launched his sweeping "Liberation Day" tariffs. Importantly, that timing would still allow the Supreme Court to add the case to their docket for the 2025-2026 term, which begins in early October. That could allow them to rule on the matter as early as the end of the year. Both Trump administration officials and lawyers for the plaintiffs said they plan to appeal the case to the Supreme Court if the lower court does not rule in their favor. And given the questions at the heart of the case, it is widely expected that the high court will take up the case for review. In the meantime, the impact of Trump's tariffs remains to be seen. Legal experts and trade analysts alike said last week's hearing is unlikely to forestall the broader market uncertainty created by Trump's tariffs, which remain in force after the appeals court agreed to stay a lower court decision from the U.S. Court of International Trade. Judges on the three-judge CIT panel in May blocked Trump's use of IEEPA to stand up his tariffs, ruling unanimously that he did not have "unbounded authority" to impose tariffs under that law. Thursday's argument gave little indication as to how the appeals court would rule, plaintiffs and longtime trade attorneys told Fox News Digital, citing the tough questions that the 11 judges on the panel posed for both parties. Dan Pickard, an attorney specializing in international trade and national security issues at the firm Buchanan Ingersoll & Rooney, said the oral arguments Thursday did not seem indicative of how the 11-judge panel might rule. "I don't know if I walked out of that hearing thinking that either the government is going to prevail, or that this is dead on arrival," Pickard told Fox News Digital. "I think it was more mixed." Lawyers for the plaintiffs echoed that assessment – a reflection of the 11 judges on the appeals bench, who had fewer chances to speak up or question the government or plaintiffs during the 45 minutes each had to present their case. "I want to be very clear that I'm not in any way, shape or form, predicting what the Federal Circuit will do – I leave that for them," one lawyer for the plaintiffs told reporters after court, adding that the judges, in his view, posed "really tough questions" for both parties. Oregon Attorney General Dan Rayfield, who helped represent the 12 states suing over the plan, told Fox News Digital they are "optimistic" that, based on the oral arguments, they would see at least a partial win in the case, though he also stressed the ruling and the time frame is fraught with uncertainty. In the interim, the White House forged ahead with enacting Trump's tariffs as planned. Pickard, who has argued many cases before the Court of International Trade and the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit, noted that the oral arguments are not necessarily the best barometer for gauging the court's next steps – something lawyers for the plaintiffs also stressed after the hearing. Even if the high court blocks the Trump administration from using IEEPA, they have a range of other trade tools at their disposal, trade lawyers told Fox News. The Trump administration "has had more of a focus on trade issues than pretty much any other administration in my professional life," Pickard said. "And let's assume, even for the sake of the argument, just hypothetically, that the Supreme Court says this use of IEEPA exceeded your statutory authority. The Trump administration is not going to say, like, 'All right, well, we're done. I guess we're just going to abandon any trade policy.' "There are going to be additional [trade] tools that had been in the toolbox for long that can be taken out and dusted off," he said. "There are plenty of other legal authorities for the president. "I don't think we're seeing an end to these issues anytime soon – this is going to continue to be battled out in the courts for a while." Both Pickard and Rayfield told Fox News Digital in separate interviews that they expect the appeals court to rule within weeks, not days. The hearing came after Trump on April 2 announced a 10% baseline tariff on all countries, along with higher, reciprocal tariffs targeting select nations, including China. The measures, he said, were aimed at addressing trade imbalances, reducing deficits with key trading partners, and boosting domestic manufacturing and production. Ahead of last week's oral arguments, U.S. Attorney General Pam Bondi said lawyers for the administration would continue to defend the president's trade agenda in court. Justice Department attorneys "are going to court to defend [Trump's] tariffs," she said, describing them as "transforming the global economy, protecting our national security and addressing the consequences of our exploding trade deficit." "We will continue to defend the president," she vowed.
New York Times
18-06-2025
- Politics
- New York Times
Images of Handcuffed Democrats Start to Pile Up in Trump's Crackdown
A United States senator forced to the floor and handcuffed by federal agents for interrupting a news conference. A mayor taken into custody by masked officials in military-style fatigues. A political candidate pushed against a wall and handcuffed in a dispute at an immigration courthouse. With tensions rising over President Trump's mass deportation policies, the government crackdown is extending to the political opposition. As Democrats struggle to push back against the administration, federal agents have arrested or clashed with a growing number of the party's elected officials. The scenes of chaos reflect the tinderbox nature of this political moment, and the expanding national battles over due process, the rule of law and the system of checks and balances. 'This is executive authority, especially in the Department of Homeland Security, running out of control,' said Senator Tina Smith, a Minnesota Democrat. 'Do the members of Congress need security details to defend themselves from the executive branch? God, I hope not.' The most recent instance came on Tuesday, when Brad Lander, the New York City comptroller and a mayoral candidate, was arrested at an immigration courthouse in Lower Manhattan as he tried to escort a migrant whom agents were seeking to arrest. The Department of Homeland Security suggested that Mr. Lander, who has trailed in polls of the mayoral race, was seeking to 'undermine law enforcement safety to get a viral moment,' and said that he had assaulted law enforcement , claims he denied after his release later Tuesday. Want all of The Times? Subscribe.
Bloomberg
17-06-2025
- Politics
- Bloomberg
Trump's Grip on Troops in LA Faces Test at Appeals Court Hearing
President Donald Trump's continued use of California's National Guard to respond to protests in Los Angeles faces fresh scrutiny on Tuesday in a high-stakes proceeding over the limits of his executive authority. A three-judge panel in the 9th US Circuit Court of Appeals in San Francisco will hear arguments for lawyers from both the Justice Department and California over whether the president's deployment of the troops without the state's approval was illegal. The court could rule soon after the hearing on whether to let Trump keep using the troops for now as the case is litigated.
