The president spoke of a city overrun by violent youth while announcing a takeover of the capital’s police.<\/b>
\nPresident Donald Trump announced Monday morning that he is placing the police force of Washington, D.C., under federal control.
During a press conference at the White House, the president formally invoked Section 740 of the District of Columbia Home Rule Act, which allows him to take control of the police in the nation\u2019s capital. Trump added that he will be deploying 800 National Guard troops to combat what he called \u201cout of control\u201d crime in the city.
\u201cI\u2019m announcing a historic action to rescue our nation\u2019s capital from crime, bloodshed, bedlam, and squalor, and worse. This is Liberation Day in D.C., and we\u2019re gonna take our capital back. We\u2019re taking it back,\u201d he said. \u201cOur capital city has been overtaken by violent gangs and bloodthirsty criminals\u2014roving mobs of wild youth, drugged-out maniacs, and homeless people.\u201d
Trump first threatened to take over the MPD following the assault of a former DOGE staffer earlier in the month. Speaking to reporters on Monday, Trump painted D.C. as a city under siege by \u201ccaravans of mass youth rampaging through city streets at all times of the day.\u201d He promised a violent crackdown on lawbreakers in the city.
\u201cThey fight back until you knock the hell out of them. It\u2019s the only language they understand,\u201d Trump said. \u201cYou spit and we hit, and they can hit real hard.\u201d
Public policy advocates are slamming the president\u2019s move. Speaking to Salon, Insha Rahman of the Vera Institute of Justice called the decision a \u201cpolitical power grab\u201d and an \u201coverreach.\u201d
\u201cTrump exerts his power in Washington, D.C., not to make things better, but to make a spectacle,\u201d Rahman said.
The Ralph Nader-founded think tank Public Citizen called the takeover legally dubious and unnecessary in a statement.
\u201cTrump aims to distract from his political weakness, and he\u2019s doing it at the expense of residents of the District of Columbia and their well-being. The people of Washington, D.C., not to mention the people of the United States, deserve better,\u201d the organization shared. \u201cThere is no street crime epidemic in Washington, with the violent street crime rate at its lowest point in decades.\u201d
The MPD\u2019s data shows that violent crime is down in the city compared to last year. The reports that the violent crime rate in the nation\u2019s capital is at its lowest point since before the COVID-19 pandemic.<\/p>\n