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Yahoo
7 hours ago
- Politics
- Yahoo
Trump takes on DC: What's next in the battle?
President Trump has moved to increase the number of federal law enforcement on the streets of Washington, D.C. — a decision he casts as necessary to combat crime. It's a move widely seen as a rebuke to the district's leadership, including Mayor Muriel Bowser (D). A lot of specifics are as yet undecided, including the total number of additional federal law enforcement officers who will be deployed, and their exact locations. The White House cited security concerns as the reason not to divulge those details. However, White House officials say that an increased law enforcement presence will be seen on D.C.'s streets. This is expected to be present mainly late at night. The effort is being spearheaded by the U.S. Park Police but also involves numerous other agencies including the Capitol Police, the FBI, the Marshals Service and the Drug Enforcement Administration. White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt said that while Washington is 'an amazing city' it 'has been plagued by violent crime for far too long.' She also said that Trump was 'committed' to making D.C. 'safer for its residents, lawmakers and visitors from all around the world.' The idea of a crime crisis in Washington is belied by crime statistics from the city police, the Metropolitan Police Department (MPD). Those statistics show violent crime so far this year down 26 percent from its 2024 levels. The crime levels in 2024 were, in turn, lower than in 2023. The key question now is, what's next? Does Trump extend the use of federal law enforcement? A White House official describes the current push as one that will 'be beginning as a 7-day effort with the option to extend as needed.' The framing invites a number of other questions — particularly, what difference are federal law enforcement personnel likely to make in a week? The situation in D.C., after all, is not one where there is a riotous situation to quell or widespread disorder stemming from any specific cause. The haziness around the objectives may make a further extension of the federal role more likely. Trump would, presumably, justify such a move on the basis that there was still more work to be done. But multiple reports from the hours after Trump's announcement, when there was supposed to be an increased federal law enforcement presence, did not reveal anything out of the ordinary. An Associated Press report, for example, noted that 'a two-hour tour of the D.C. streets, starting around 1 a.m. Friday, revealed no evidence of the sort of multi-agency flood of uniformed personnel described in Trump's announcement.' Could Trump take over the DC police? The short answer is, yes. The bigger question is whether he would want to do so. The district enjoys its current measure of autonomy because of the Home Rule Act of 1973. The legislation reserves some powers for Congress and for the president. Section 740 of the act notes that if a president 'determines that special conditions of an emergency nature exist,' the D.C. mayor must lend him 'such services of the Metropolitan Police Force as the President may deem necessary and appropriate.' There are some caveats to this power, however. In the first instance, a president cannot take over those powers for longer than 48 hours unless, during that period, he provides a written explanation of his reasons to Congress — or, more specifically, to the chair and ranking member of the Senate and House committees that pertain to D.C. Trump, however, could likely satisfy this requirement, given the GOP majorities in both chambers. The more salient constraint, therefore, might be the fact that there is a 30-day limit on this power, even if congressional notification is provided. Politically speaking, there is also a question of whether Trump would want to make such a dramatic move. Washington is a very Democratic city — former Vice President Kamala Harris got more than 90 percent of the vote last November — and reaction to Trump seizing the reins of the local police would surely be negative. How about the National Guard? Here, again, Trump has lots of remove to maneuver. The District of Columbia National Guard can be directed at the behest of the president, in contrast to full states where the power to deploy the guard resides with the governor. The D.C. National Guard has been at pains to point out that it has not, as yet, been deployed. A spokesperson for the D.C. guard told CNN on Friday that the force has not been activated and that any 'presence of National Guardsmen and vehicles seen this week and throughout the weekend are related to required training.' What could go wrong? Quite a lot. For a start, Trump could get into more of a pitched battle with Bowser. The mayor has pursued a much more conciliatory approach toward Trump during his second term than she did during his first. She has been supportive of a task force he set up in March and has refrained from comment on his latest moves. That's partly a testament to D.C.'s dependence upon the federal government in numerous ways. Congress in effect withheld $1.1 billion from the district's budget earlier this year. The federal workforce is of enormous economic importance to the overall D.C. area. But whether Bowser can remain quiet if Trump expands his control over D.C. is highly questionable. Washingtonians are already sensitive about their circumscribed rights. There are more macabre things that could go wrong, too. Any especially egregious violent crime could make Trump more insistent on federal control. Conversely, any excessive force used against D.C. residents by federal personnel deployed by Trump could ignite new tensions. Can Trump repeal home rule itself? Realistically, no. Doing this would require repealing the legislation. The House might go along with that, but Trump would need 60 votes in the Senate. Even if every Republican voted in favor, he would still need the backing of seven Democrats — a highly unlikely scenario. Additional reporting: Tanya Noury. Copyright 2025 Nexstar Media, Inc. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.
Washington Post
2 days ago
- Politics
- Washington Post
Trump says crime in D.C. is out of control. Here's what the data shows.
President Donald Trump once again catapulted crime in D.C. into the national conversation with renewed threats last week of a federal takeover and an image of a young federal staffer, beaten and bloodied, after an attempted carjacking. He has since ordered more federal law enforcement agents to be deployed on city streets and called for teenagers as young as 14 to be charged as adults as he continues to cast the capital as overrun with violent youngsters. And on Saturday, he said he would continue addressing the issue in a Monday news conference. Local and federal data, though, paint a contrasting picture. D.C. police have made about 900 juvenile arrests this year — almost 20 percent fewer than during the same time frame last year. About 200 of those charges are for violent crimes, and at least four dozen are for carjacking. This summer, D.C. officials have also implemented stricter curfew laws for teens in response to concerns about large brawls — recorded in videos that spread on social media — breaking out in communities across the city. Violent crime in D.C. has been on the decline since 2023, when a generational spike in killings rendered the nation's capital one of America's deadliest cities, plunging communities into grief and igniting a local political crisis that escalated to Congress. The decrease is part of a nationwide drop that in 2024 brought homicide rates to their lowest level in decades. This year, homicides are down more than 30 percent in data that The Washington Post collected from more than 100 police departments in large U.S. cities. Reports of burglaries and robberies also dipped by double-digit percentages. Not captured in statistics, though, is the grief, pain and shattered sense of safety that follow each crime. A few hours before 19-year-old software engineer and Elon Musk protégé Edward Coristine was beaten, a man suffered a nonfatal gunshot wound. Later that day, a 27-year-old man would be fatally shot blocks from the Capitol. The following night, a 38-year-old Northwest Washington resident was killed in gunfire in Columbia Heights. None of these crimes made national headlines. But the image Trump shared of Coristine continues to ricochet online. Last week, the president described crime in D.C. as 'out of control,' with young 'thugs' and 'gang members' who are 'randomly attacking, mugging, maiming, and shooting innocent Citizens.' FBI arrest data collected by The Post shows juvenile arrests nationwide have largely been dropping since the 1990s. In 2024, the rate was about 439 juvenile arrests per 100,000 juveniles, down 7 percent from 2023 and five times lower than in 1997. Juvenile arrests are down in D.C. this year, but the trend doesn't hold everywhere. In Baltimore, police made 1,377 juvenile arrests in 2024, a 47.4 percent increase from the year prior, according to FBI data. In New York City, juvenile arrests were up 10.9 percent in 2024 compared with 2023 and are continuing to rise: New York police made more than 5,200 arrests from January through June this year, up almost 10 percent from the same period the year before. And Chicago is seeing an even sharper rise, but the juvenile arrest count there remains less than half of the 2019 figure. U.S. Attorney Jeanine Pirro, the Trump-appointed prosecutor who handles most of D.C.'s adult crime, said the nation's capital shields violent youngsters from consequence. She joined the president last week in advocating that more teenagers, including those as young as 14, be funneled into the adult justice system. In D.C., suspects as young as 15 can be charged as adults. 'Young people are coddled, and they don't need to be coddled anymore,' Pirro said Thursday at a news conference. 'They need to be held accountable.' Eduardo Ferrer, policy director of Georgetown Law's Juvenile Justice Initiative, said it was important to keep in mind that the vast majority of D.C.'s teenagers are doing the right things. And for that minority of young people who commit serious violent crimes, the solution should not be charging them as adults, Ferrer said. He pointed to an influential Centers for Disease Control study from 2007 that found youths charged as adults were 34 percent more likely to be rearrested than those who went through the juvenile justice system. 'The evidence shows that this is a policy that may sound tough on crime but actually undermines public safety,' Ferrer said. Since early July, an 11 p.m. citywide curfew has been in effect for those 17 and younger. It runs though August. Local leaders also implemented stricter curfew laws for teens in response to concerns about large brawls, including at the Southwest Waterfront and in the U Street corridor in Northwest Washington. The city has had four 'juvenile curfew zones' this summer — locations with more restrictive rules from 8 to 11 p.m. The night Coristine was attacked, a curfew zone was in place in parts of Southwest and Northeast Washington. There have been no reported violations of those curfews, according to D.C. police. Hours after Coristine was attacked, residents in a nearby block were rattled awake by shouting on their usually quiet, tree-lined street. One person described peeking out their window and seeing a rowdy crowd of youngsters, some in masks. Later, they saw a young man, beaten and bloodied. When D.C. police arrived, 'all parties had fled the scene and the officers had nothing found,' according to a department spokesperson. When asked whether there were other incidents in the area in the predawn hours of last Sunday, the spokesperson said 'there were unfounded reports of suspicious groups; however, officers did not locate any such groups.' But the weekend's incident unnerved residents, even before the nearby attack of Coristine captured the president's and the nation's attention. 'This is a safe city, but overhearing and witnessing gang threats and then watching the camera footage of the thuggery is disturbing,' said one resident, speaking on the condition of anonymity over concerns of personal safety. The crowd of teens, he said, were roaming the street and appeared to be checking for unlocked cars and things to steal. 'The language Trump uses to describe D.C. is wrong,' he said, 'but clearly there is something bad going on that needs to stop.'
Yahoo
3 days ago
- Politics
- Yahoo
Trump promises Monday ‘press conference' at White House will ‘essentially stop violent crime in Washington, DC'
President Donald Trump took to Truth Social on Saturday morning to announce a press conference on Monday that he claimed would end violent crime in the nation's capital. 'On Monday a Press Conference will be held at the White House which will, essentially, stop violent crime in Washington, D.C.' said Trump. 'It has become one of the most dangerous cities anywhere in the World. It will soon be one of the safest!!!' This comes after a Thursday announcement from the White House that it will utilize federal law enforcement on the streets of Washington. Trump said the ramp-up of security would last for seven days, 'with the option to extend as needed.' On Wednesday, Trump threatened to take charge of the city's police force following an attempted hijacking in which an administration staffer was injured. Last weekend, a member of the Department of Government Efficiency, Edward Coristine, nicknamed 'Big Balls,' was assaulted by a group of teenagers. Police have detained two 15-year-olds and have said they're still looking for other members of the group. 'If D.C. doesn't get its act together, and quickly, we will have no choice but to take Federal control of the City, and run this City how it should be run, and put criminals on notice that they're not going to get away with it anymore,' Trump wrote on Truth Social earlier this week. Trump didn't specifically say what the press conference would include. He has, in recent months, claimed that violent crime was taking over Washington, and he has threatened to send in the National Guard. This week, he told reporters that he may attempt to repeal Washington's limited 'home rule' and that he's considering 'bringing in the National Guard, maybe very quickly.' Between 2023 and 2024, rates of violent crime dropped 35 percent in Washington, the lowest rates in more than three decades, according to the Department of Justice. This year, violent crime has continued to decrease, down 26 percent year-over-year, according to data released on August 8 by the Metropolitan Police Department. William McGinley served as the White House cabinet secretary during Trump's first term. He took to X on Saturday to back up the president, saying that Trump 'is taking concrete steps to make the Nation's Capital safe, beautiful, and a capital worthy of this great nation.' 'Democrats will hurl spurious insults about these moves but the blame for DC's failures lies with the Democrats,' he added. 'They know it. Do not be distracted. Hold the line and take action to support this move.' Juan Carlos Green, a community engagement manager at the DC public charter school board, wrote that 'DC residents elect leaders to govern our city, and not the White House. We deserve the same right to self-govern as every state.' A White House official said that more than 120 members of a number of federal agencies were set to be on duty in Washington on Friday night. "This is the first step in stopping the violent crime that has been plaguing the streets of Washington, D.C.," White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt said in a statement.
South China Morning Post
5 days ago
- Politics
- South China Morning Post
Trump threatens to deploy National Guard to fight crime in Washington DC
US President Donald Trump on Wednesday said he may use the National Guard to police the streets of Washington DC, and a White House official said federal law enforcement would increase its presence in the city this week. Advertisement The threat - and the move to follow through on it - was the latest step by Trump and his administration toward taking over running the city that serves as the seat of the US government. 'We have a capital that's very unsafe,' Trump told reporters at the White House. 'We have to run DC. This has to be the best-run place in the country.' A White House official told Reuters that operational details about the increased federal presence were still being finalised. Donald Trump's threat to send the National Guard into the capital comes weeks after he deployed California's military reserve force into Los Angeles to quell protests. File photo: TNS CNN reported that officers from the FBI, National Guard, and US Immigration and Customs Enforcement as well as agents from the Department of Homeland Security would be involved starting Thursday.
Yahoo
18-06-2025
- Politics
- Yahoo
DHS Secretary Kristi Noem hospitalized after allergic reaction
Department of Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem was hospitalized on June 17 for an allergic reaction, the department said. Noem, who is "alert and recovering," was taken to the hospital "out of an abundance of caution," said DHS Assistant Secretary Tricia McLaughlin. The 53-year old Cabinet secretary and former two-term South Dakota governor has helped lead President Donald Trump's mass deportation effort. She landed in the spotlight recently when U.S. Sen. Alex Padilla was dragged out of a press conference she was holding in Los Angeles, pushed to the floor, and handcuffed by federal law enforcement agents. Contributing: Riley Beggin This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: DHS Secretary Kristi Noem hospitalized for allergic reaction
