US President Donald Trump said on Monday he was deploying 800 National Guard troops to Washington and temporarily taking over the city's police department, an extraordinary assertion of presidential power in the nation's capital.
Trump's move, which bypassed the city's elected leaders, was emblematic of his second-term approach, which has seen him wield executive authority in ways with little precedent in modern US history and in defiance of political norms.
The president cast his actions as necessary to "rescue" Washington from a purported wave of lawlessness. Statistics show that violent crime shot up in 2023 but has been rapidly declining since.
"Our capital city has been overtaken by violent gangs and bloodthirsty criminals," Trump told a news conference at the White House.
It is the second time this summer that the Republican president has deployed troops to a Democratically governed city. Trump sent thousands of National Guard troops to Los Angeles in June over the objections of state and local officials.
And Trump signaled that other major US cities with Democratic leadership could be next, including Chicago, a city that has long been beset by violent crime, although it was down significantly in the first half of the year.
"If we need to, we're going to do the same thing in Chicago, which is a disaster," Trump said at the White House, adding, "Hopefully LA is watching."
Trump has shown particular interest in taking over Washington, which is under the jurisdiction of Congress but exercises self-governance under a 1973 US law.
Hundreds of officers and agents from more than a dozen federal agencies, including the FBI, ICE, DEA and ATF, have fanned out across the city in recent days. Attorney General Pam Bondi will oversee the police force takeover, Trump said.
Read More: Tense Trump-Modi call triggered US-India fallout
The US Army said the National Guard troops would carry out a number of tasks, including "administrative, logistics and physical presence in support of law enforcement." Between 100 and 200 of the troops would be supporting law enforcement at any given time.
The Democratic mayor of Washington, Muriel Bowser, has pushed back on Trump's claims of unchecked violence, saying the city is "not experiencing a crime spike" and highlighting that violent crime hit its lowest level in more than three decades last year.
Violent crime, including murders, spiked in 2023, turning Washington into one of the nation's deadliest cities. However, violent crime dropped 35% in 2024, according to federal data, and it has fallen an additional 26% in the first seven months of 2025, according to city police.
The city's attorney general, Brian Schwalb, called Trump's actions "unprecedented, unnecessary and unlawful" in an X post, and said his office was "considering all of our options."
Bowser did not immediately comment on Trump's announcement, though other Democrats weighed in.
"Donald Trump has no basis to take over the local police department. And zero credibility on the issue of law and order. Get lost," House of Representatives Democratic Leader Hakeem Jeffries wrote on X.
Trump ramps up rhetoric
Over the past week, Trump has intensified his messaging, suggesting he might attempt to strip the city of its local autonomy and implement a full federal takeover.
The District of Columbia operates under the Home Rule Act, which gives Congress ultimate authority but allows residents to elect a mayor and city council. Trump said last week that lawyers are examining how to overturn the law, a move that would likely require Congress to revoke it.
Trump on Monday invoked a section of the act that allows the president to take over the police force for 30 days when "emergency" conditions exist. Trump said he was declaring a "public safety emergency" in the city.
Also Read: COAS credits Trump with 'preventing many wars'
Trump's own Federal Emergency Management Agency is cutting security funding for the National Capital Region, an area that includes DC and parts of Maryland and Virginia. The region will receive $20 million less this year from the federal urban security fund, amounting to a 44% year-on-year cut.
Trump also vowed to remove homeless encampments, though he did not provide details on how or where homeless people would be moved.
The federal government owns much of Washington's parkland, so the Trump administration has legal authority to clear homeless encampments in those areas, as President Joe Biden did while in office. But the federal government cannot force people to move out of the city because they lack shelter, advocates for the homeless said.
Trial begins
A federal trial began on Monday in San Francisco on whether Trump violated US law by deploying 4,000 National Guard troops and 700 US Marines in Los Angeles without the approval of Democratic Governor Gavin Newsom.
The troops were sent in response to protests over raids by federal immigration agents. State and local officials objected to Trump's decision as unnecessary, unlawful and inflammatory.
The president has broad authority over the 2,700 members of the DC National Guard, unlike in states where governors typically hold the power to activate troops. Guard troops have been dispatched to Washington many times, including in response to the January 6, 2021, attack on the U.S. Capitol by a mob of Trump supporters.
During his first term, Trump sent the National Guard into Washington in 2020 to help quash mostly peaceful demonstrations during nationwide protests over police brutality following the murder of George Floyd. Civil rights leaders and city leaders denounced the deployment.
COMMENTS
Comments are moderated and generally will be posted if they are on-topic and not abusive.
For more information, please see our Comments FAQ