At an extraordinary news conference on Monday, President Donald Trump announced plans to place the Washington, D.C., Metropolitan Police Department under federal control and deploy National Guard troops in the capital, citing what he described as rampant violent crime despite police data showing crime is down.
“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 D.C., and we’re going to take our capital back.”
Declaring a public safety emergency, Trump said Attorney General Pam Bondi would assume command of the Metropolitan Police Department, with DEA Administrator Terry Cole serving as interim federal commissioner. He made the announcement alongside Bondi, Defence Secretary Pete Hegseth, U.S. Attorney for the District of Columbia Jeanine Pirro, FBI Director Kash Patel, and Interior Secretary Doug Burgum.
“Let me be crystal clear. Crime in D.C. is ending and ending today. We are going to use every power we have to fight criminals here,” Bondi said.
Hegseth confirmed that 800 National Guardsmen would be deployed initially. “They’re going to be proactive. If you take an action or a shot at them, there will be a consequence,” he said, noting they would not perform law enforcement duties but would operate as they had in Los Angeles earlier this summer.
Trump painted a grim picture of the city, saying it had been “overtaken by violent gangs and bloodthirsty criminals, roving mobs of wild youth, drugged out maniacs and homeless people,” and claiming police were now allowed to do “whatever the hell they want.”
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Metropolitan Police Department statistics, however, show overall crime down 7% from last year, with violent crime reduced by 26% and property crime down 5%.
The president also pledged to remove homeless encampments. “We’re going to be removing homeless encampments from all over our parks, our beautiful, beautiful parks, which now a lot of people can’t walk on. They’ve been very, very dirty … We’re moving the encampments away, trying to take care of people … But they’ll not be allowed to turn our capital into a wasteland for the world to see,” he said.
House Judiciary Committee Ranking Democrat Rep. Jamie Raskin vowed to challenge the move, calling it “plainly ridiculous” and pledging to introduce a resolution to restore full home rule to the city.
