Trump signed an executive order invoking Section 740 of the District of Columbia Self-Government and Governmental Reorganization Act.
Trump said it is his duty to ‘ensure that all citizens can avail themselves of the right to interact with their elected representatives, and that the Federal Government can properly function, without fear of being subjected to violent, menacing street crime.’
President Donald Trump announced on Monday that his administration is taking back control of Washington, D.C., by returning policing control to federal control after decades of city government failure.
Trump signed an executive order invoking Section 740 of the District of Columbia Self-Government and Governmental Reorganization Act, which allows his administration to take control of D.C.’s Metropolitan Police Department. Along with invoking Section 740, he declared a pubic safety emergency in the nation’s capital. He also signed a memorandum to Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth directing him to mobilize the D.C. National Guard to help clean up crime in the city.
About 800 National Guard troops have been deployed so far, and mechanisms are in place to deploy more and request some from state governors, should the need arise.
In a press conference announcing the move, Trump described how the city — which should be a center of pride for the American people, a place citizens can visit safely without the scourge of homeless encampments and fentanyl overdoses at every public park — has been overrun by violent criminals.
Law-abiding citizens get “mugged, and raped, and shot, and killed,” and, under the weak D.C. government, are forced to endure car-jackings and other crimes with barely any law enforcement intervention and a completely hollow justice system.
“Our capital city,” Trump said, “has been overtaken by violent gangs and blood-thirsty criminals, roving mobs of wild youth, drugged-out maniacs, and homeless people, and we’re not going to let it happen anymore.”
Over the weekend, a massive group of young degenerates terrorized residents of Navy Yard, launching fireworks, riding dirt bikes, and intimidating law-abiding citizens. A teenager allegedly shot a gun at a group of other teenagers in the area.
As anyone who lives, works, or recreates in the nation’s capital knows, intimidation and violence like this are commonplace. Trump called the situation “embarrassing.”
“Caravans of mass youth rampage through city streets at all times of the day,” Trump said, noting they travel on ATVs and dirt bikes. “They love to spit in the face of the police as the police are standing up there in uniform. They’re standing, and they’re screaming at them an inch away from their face, and then they start spitting in their face.
