Donald Trump is deploying 800 National Guard troops to Washington, D.C., and is placing the city’s police department under federal control.
At a press conference Monday, Trump announced he was declaring a public safety emergency in the Columbia district.
Attorney General Pam Bondi will take control of the Metropolitan Police Department (MPD), and Terry Cole, head of the Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA), will be designated interim federal commissioner of the department.
Highlights
- Trump deployed 800 National Guard troops and placed D.C. police under federal control during a declared public safety emergency.
- Mayor Bowser has countered Trump’s claims, citing D.C.'s 30-year low in violent crime and rejecting allegations of a crime surge.
- Critics accused Trump of using federal takeover as a political distraction amid ongoing controversies like the Epstein files.
- Trump signaled federal interventions could extend beyond D.C., mentioning cities like Chicago, L.A., New York, Baltimore, and Oakland.
Donald Trump announced the new crackdown on Monday. Image credits: Andrew Harnik/Getty Images
Unless Trump receives approval from Congress, his administration’s control of the police department will be limited to 30 days.
“I’m announcing a historic action to rescue our nation’s capital from crime, bloodshed, bedlam, and squalor and worse,” Trump said.
“This is liberation day in DC, and we’re going to take our capital back,” he added.
Trump also confirmed that the homeless population in the city would be targeted in his crackdown.
“We’re getting rid of the slums too,” he told reporters.
Trump has claimed there is a spike in crime. Image credits: Andrew Harnik/Getty Images
‘Huge decrease in crime’
Crime statistics show that D.C. has experienced a decrease in violent crime
Mayor Muriel Bowser has rejected Trump’s claim that crime in the city is rising and says D.C. is experiencing a 30-year low in violent crime.
She said at a press conference that while the action was “unprecedented,” she was not totally surprised given some of the “rhetoric” in the past.
“Chief Pamela Smith is the chief of the Metropolitan Police Department, and its 3,100 members work under her direction,” Bowser said.
"It’s true we experienced a crime spike post-COVID,” she told reporters. “We worked quickly to put laws in place that got violent offenders off our streets.”
Mayor Muriel Bowser said D.C. is experiencing a 30-year crime low. Image credits: Mayor Muriel Bowser
“We have seen a huge decrease in crime because of those efforts."
Trump told reporters on Monday that the “capital city has been overtaken by violent gangs and bloodthirsty criminals, roving mobs of wild youth, drugged-out maniacs and homeless people, and we’re not going to let it happen anymore.”
He also confirmed that the military could be brought in if needed.
In his executive order, Trump said the District of Columbia now has a higher violent crime, murder, and robbery rate than all 50 states.
The figures he provided were a homicide rate in 2024 of 27.54 per 100,000 residents and a vehicle theft rate of 842.4 thefts per 100,000 residents, which was over three times the national average.
According to MPD crime statistics, violent crime was down 26% in the first seven months of 2025 compared to 2024, and overall, crime was down about 7%.
Pam Bondi will take control of the MPD. Image credits: Andrew Harnik/Getty Images
Trump appeared to suggest that those statistics had been manipulated by the city.
There is no evidence to suggest those figures have been manipulated, and verified sources concur that there is a decline in crime in D.C.
Yet official crime figures, in any city, may not capture all incidents due to underreporting by victims and differences in how crimes are classified.
Of the 800 National Guard troops deployed, around 100 to 200 of them will support local law enforcement, according to the Department of Defense.
Duties for those personnel include administrative and logistical roles, as well as providing a physical presence in support of law enforcement.
Could other cities be next?
Trump already deployed National Guard troops to L.A. earlier this year after mass protests broke out in response to Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) raids.
The decision sparked intense backlash, particularly from California Governor Gavin Newsom, who launched legal challenges in a bid to take back the city.
Those challenges ultimately failed, and Trump was allowed to keep control of the National Guard as they worked with law enforcement to quell anti-ICE protests.
However, a legal challenge remains ongoing about whether that deployment was lawful.
Trump deployed the National Guard to L.A. earlier this year. Image credits: Keith Birmingham/MediaNews Group/Pasadena Star-News via Getty Images
Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth withdrew those troops in July.
Announcing his decision to deploy the National Guard to D.C., Trump suggested that other cities could be next.
“You look at Chicago, how bad it is,” he said. “You look at Los Angeles, how bad it is.”
“We have other cities that are very bad. New York has a problem, and then you have, of course, Baltimore and Oakland.”
“We don’t even mention that anymore. They’re so far gone. We’re not going to let it happen,” Trump added.
“We’re not going to lose our cities over this. This will go further. We’re starting very strongly with D.C.”
The D.C. National Guard reports directly to the president because the District of Columbia is under federal jurisdiction and does not have a governor.
The Home Rule Act of 1973 granted the city limited self-government, but ultimate authority in many areas, including control of the National Guard, remains with the federal government.
Washington is not included in the 50 U.S. states and has no voting representation in Congress.
While Trump can control the D.C. National Guard, it is likely other cities would launch immediate legal challenges if he announces the deployment of troops elsewhere.
Deflection tactic?
Democrats have strongly criticized Trump’s decision and say he is using it as a deflection tactic.
“Donald Trump delayed deploying the National Guard on January 6th when our Capitol was under violent attack and lives were at stake,” former House Speaker Nancy Pelosi said.
“Now, he’s activating the DC Guard to distract from his incompetent mishandling of tariffs, health care, education, and immigration — just to name a few blunders.”
There were protests in response to Trump's announcement. Image credits: Kevin Dietsch/Getty Images
Former Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg said Trump was trying to distract from the Epstein files saga.
The Trump administration has been grappling to contain the fallout over Jeffrey Epstein since the FBI and DOJ announced he had no client list and died by suicide.
“The president is doing this not in order to make the city safer, that’s the job of local law enforcement, but to solve his own political problems,” Buttigieg said in a video on X.
“He needs to get his base talking and thinking about something besides his refusal to open up the Epstein files because he’s mixed up in them.”
“He wants the rest of the country focused on something, anything, besides the work that he has done and continues to do to kick millions of Americans off of their health insurance, to close down rural hospitals, and to undermine basic functions of our government in order to pay for tax cuts for the wealthiest.”
It was a claim also alluded to by Illinois Governor JB Pritzker, who has been floated as a potential 2028 Democratic presidential contender, as he responded to Trump’s suggestion that Chicago could be next.
“Let’s not lie to the public, you and I both know you have no authority to take over Chicago,” he wrote on X. “By the way, where are the Epstein files?”
“As you listen to an unhinged Trump try to justify deploying the National Guard in DC, here’s reality: Violent crime in DC is at a 30-year low,” Hillary Clinton wrote on X.