Trump Announces He’s Deploying National Guard to DC in Major Power Grab
President Donald Trump announced on Monday that he will deploy the National Guard to Washington, DC, as part of a promised federal takeover to bring down the crime rate. Trump announced during a press briefing he was putting the DC police under federal control.
“I’m announcing a historic action to rescue our nation’s capital from crime, bloodshed, bedlam, and squalor, and worse. This is Liberation Day in D.C., and we’re gonna take our capital back. We’re taking it back. Under the authorities vested in me as the president of the United States, I’m officially invoking Section 740 of the District of Columbia Home Rule Act,” Trump began.
“The number of car thefts has doubled over the past five years, and the number of carjackings has more than tripled. Murders in 2023 reached the highest rate probably ever. They say 25 years, but they don’t know what that means because it just goes back 25 years. It can’t be worse. Our capital city has been overtaken by violent gangs and bloodthirsty criminals—roving mobs of wild youth, drugged-out maniacs, and homeless people,” he later added, before continuing his freewheeling remarks.
Earlier in the day, Trump previewed his announcement on Truth Social, writing, “Washington, D.C. will be LIBERATED today! Crime, Savagery, Filth, and Scum will DISAPPEAR. I will, MAKE OUR CAPITAL GREAT AGAIN! The days of ruthlessly killing, or hurting, innocent people, are OVER! I quickly fixed the Border (ZERO ILLEGALS in last 3 months!), D.C. is next!!! Thank you for your attention to this matter. President DJT.”
Critics of Trump’s rhetoric on DC’s crime rate have pointed out that the city’s violent crime rate actually hit a 30-year low on the day he took office, and has dropped a further 26% this year, according to local police data.
Trump said in early July he was “thinking about” taking over the city, saying at a Cabinet Meeting, “We could run D.C., we’d get the best person to run it.”
“The crime would be down to a minimal, it’d be much less,” he added.
Axios reported at the time that Trump can’t simply sign an executive order to federalize the city, he would actually need an act of Congress to abolish the city’s self-rule. The report did not, however, that Trump could take over the city’s police department.
Trump made similar comments in late July, while discussing rampant homelessness in cities across the U.S. “We’ve got to get the mayor to run this city properly,” Trump said at the time, adding, “This city has to be run. I have the right to take it over.”
This is a breaking story and has been updated.
