President Donald Trump on Monday said he is placing the Washington, D.C., police department under federal control and deploying National Guard troops in order to address what he claims is out-of-control crime in the capital city.
Trump, who has threatened to put Washington under federal control, made the announcement at a news conference at the White House that was ongoing as of 10:55 a.m.
“This is Liberation Day in D.C., and we’re going to take our capitol back,” Trump said in the White House briefing room.
He said he was invoking his authority under Section 740 of the district’s Home Rule Act, the decades-old law that establishes the capital’s local government.
The section Trump cited gives the president the power to order the D.C. mayor to temporarily hand over control of the Metropolitan Police force if he determines that “special conditions of an emergency nature exist.”
But his emergency control is set to expire after a maximum of 30 days, according to the statute. That can be extended, but only if Congress passes a law authorizing it.
U.S. Attorney General Pam Bondi is “taking command of the Metropolitan Police Department as of this moment,” Trump said.
He also said that he will deploy the National Guard to “help re-establish law order and public safety in Washington, D.C., and they’re going to be allowed to do their job properly.”
Trump added, “You’re going to have a lot of essentially military, and we will bring in the military if it’s needed.”
Trump had teased his announcement on social media in the days leading up to the presser.
“Crime, Savagery, Filth, and Scum will DISAPPEAR. I will, MAKE OUR CAPITAL GREAT AGAIN!” Trump wrote on Truth Social earlier Monday.
On Sunday, he declared that “the Homeless” in D.C. will “have to move out, IMMEDIATELY,” while assuring that the government “will give you places to stay, but FAR from the Capital.”
Soldiers from the U.S. Army National Guard 42nd Infantry Division walk through streets in Washington, D.C. on June 13, 2025 ahead of a parade and festival the following day celebrating the 250th anniversary of the U.S. Army.
Bryan Dozier | Afp | Getty Images
While Trump has complained about crime in the district, the incidence of violent crime has fallen to a 30-year low as of January, according to the U.S. Department of Justice.
The Trump administration has disputed that decline, however, pointing to a police union’s reported accusation that crime statistics in D.C. have been manipulated.
Federal law enforcement presence in D.C. has increased in recent days.
Trump’s complaints about crime in D.C. ramped up after reports that Edward Coristine, one of the initial staffers on the White House’s Department of Government Efficiency, was assaulted there earlier this month.
Trump also signaled he plans to renew criticism of the cost of an ongoing renovation of the Federal Reserve headquarters, continuing his line of attack against the central bank’s chairman, Jerome Powell.
In another social media post, he wrote, “We are not going to allow people to spend $3.1 Billion Dollars on fixing up a building, like the Federal Reserve, which could have been done in a far more elegant and time sensitive manner for $50 to $100 Million Dollars.”
D.C. Mayor Muriel Bowser has pushed back on Trump’s characterizations.
“People are coming to our capital. They’re starting business in our capital, and they’re raising families in our capital. Any comparison to a war-torn country is hyperbolic and false,” Bower said Sunday on MSNBC’s “The Weekend.”
The Trump administration deployed the National Guard to Los Angeles in June to address civil unrest over federal immigration enforcement operations in the city.
California Gov. Gavin Newsom has sued the administration, arguing that Trump’s actions were unconstitutional.
A trial on the suit in California federal court is set to begin Monday morning.
This is developing news. Please check back for updates.
