President Donald Trump on Monday said he is placing the Washington, D.C., police department under federal control and deploying 800 National Guard troops in order to address what he claims is out-of-control crime in the capital city.
The move — which marks the first time in history that a president has federalized the district’s police force — was met with fierce condemnation from local officials, who quickly noted that official statistics show crime is on the decline.
Trump unveiled the action after describing the city in apocalyptic terms.
“I’m announcing a historic action to rescue our nation’s capital from crime, bloodshed, bedlam and squalor, and worse,” Trump declared at the start of a lengthy news conference in the White House press briefing room.
“This is Liberation Day in D.C., and we’re going to take our capitol back.”
He said he was invoking his authority under Section 740 of the district’s Home Rule Act, the decades-old law that establishes Washington’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.
While Trump has frequently complained about crime in the district, violent crime there has fallen to a 30-year low as of January, according to the U.S. Department of Justice.
U.S. President Donald Trump speaks to the press about deploying federal law enforcement agents in Washington to bolster the local police presence, in the Press Briefing Room at the White House, in Washington D.C., U.S., August 11, 2025.
Jonathan Ernst | Reuters
Statistics from the Metropolitan Police Department also show that incidences of homicide, sexual abuse, assault with a dangerous weapon, robbery and overall violent crime have dropped by double-digit percentages so far this year.
Federal law enforcement presence in D.C. has nevertheless increased in recent days.
D.C. Attorney General Brian Schwalbe called Trump’s actions “unprecedented, unnecessary, and unlawful,” and signaled his office will take action to challenge the administration.
“There is no crime emergency in the District of Columbia. Violent crime in DC reached historic 30-year lows last year, and is down another 26% so far this year,” Schwalbe said in an X post.
“We are considering all of our options and will do what is necessary to protect the rights and safety of District residents,” he said.
Eleanor Holmes Norton, a Democrat who is the District of Columbia’s nonvoting delegate in the House of Representatives, called Trump’s actions “an historic assault on D.C. home rule,” and a “counterproductive, escalatory seizure of D.C.’s resources to use for purposes not supported by D.C. residents.”
“The administration is justifying the decision by misleadingly…
Read More: Trump puts DC police under federal control, deploys National Guard
