President Donald Trump is ramping up efforts to curb crime in the nation’s capital on Monday as he threatens a federal takeover of Washington, DC, with plans for FBI agents to patrol the streets all while city officials largely remain deferential to him.
The event comes after Trump launched a surge of federal law enforcement in DC over the weekend that up to 450 officers were expected participate in, according to a White House official. Last week, the president said he might deploy the National Guard over recent crime as well.
Plans called for as many as 130 FBI agents to patrol with DC police as part of the increased federal presence, according to a one person familiar with the plans, which were first reported by The Washington Post. A primary part of their job will be driving around the city, running license plates for stolen vehicles and warrants, a source familiar told CNN. It’s not typical for FBI agents to patrol with local police.
Trump said over the weekend that he will hold a “press conference” at 10 a.m. ET on Monday, teasing that the event “will, essentially, stop violent crime in Washington, D.C.”
“I’m going to make our Capital safer and more beautiful than it ever was before. The Homeless have to move out, IMMEDIATELY. We will give you places to stay, but FAR from the Capital,” Trump said in social media post on Sunday. “The Criminals, you don’t have to move out. We’re going to put you in jail where you belong.”
To support his threats, Trump has made false claims about rising crime in DC. But so far this year, overall crime numbers are lower than last year’s, according to a preliminary year-to-date crime comparison from DC’s Metropolitan Police Department — following a similar trend of declining crime rates in major US cities.
Meanwhile, the local government has largely stayed deferential to the president amid his threats, avoiding the wrath of Trump, who was often at odds with the city during his first term.
DC mayor deferential to Trump
Five days after Trump began threatening to “take over” the city, Washington Mayor Muriel Bowser broke the notable silence that has been a feature of the city’s response to Trump’s incursions into local matters.
Speaking to MSNBC on Sunday morning, Bowser denied that DC is undergoing a massive spike in crime. She also pointed out that the DC National Guard is “the president’s National Guard” and highlighted her “shared priorities” with Trump, who she said is “interested in being in neighborhoods and fighting crime.”
The Democratic mayor, who abstained from criticizing the president directly during the interview, thanked federal law enforcement agencies “who always work cooperatively with us, and we expect that they will again.”
CNN attempted to reach Bowser’s office on Sunday and several times last week for comment but either didn’t receive a response or the office declined to comment.
Similarly, 12 of 13 members of the DC Council did not respond or declined to a request for comment last week. Councilmember Christina Henderson attributed crime in the city to the Trump and Biden administrations not nominating enough judges to handle the local caseload.
This deferential tone has been a hallmark of Bowser’s strategy for dealing with Trump in his second term. It’s also a sharp contrast to DC’s demonstrative resistance during Trump’s first term – like when Bowser ordered “Black Lives Matter” painted on a street in front of the White House during the height of the George Floyd protests.
When it comes to addressing violent crime in the city, Bowser — while maintaining that efforts to bring rates down has been successful — sees little upside in creating rifts with agencies by opposing Trump’s deployment of federal officers, a source familiar with her thinking told CNN.
Federal agencies work with DC’s police force on a consistent basis, as jurisdictions regularly overlap with the US Park Police, Federal Protective Service, Secret Service and others including the Capitol Police. The mayor’s office and the city-run police department also work intimately with federal partners in planning and securing a significant number of large events in the district.
Balancing those relationships while also softly pushing back on Trump’s repeated claims that DC is infested with crime is Bowser’s current strategy to handling the volatile president, whose obsession with DC crime has ebbed and flowed over the years.
And Bowser has received some credit from federal officials, including US Attorney for DC Jeanine Pirro, who said Wednesday in a Fox News interview: “I have to give the mayor credit. Mayor Bowser is working with us.”
The mayor in March announced the removal of Black Lives Matter Plaza after Republicans in Congress threatened to withhold funding for the district if it kept the two-block mural, which was unveiled following the 2020 murder of Floyd and subsequent protests.
The mayor told CNN at the time, “We have bigger fish to fry,” citing the looming financial and existential crises her city faces under Trump amid federal job losses and funding cuts .
Bowser has taken opportunities to work with Trump when she can, including joining the president in the White House earlier this year to announce the NFL Draft would come to DC in 2027. She has also welcomed the federal government’s help repairing and beautifying federal parks in DC.
What can happen next?
In his second term, Trump first suggested a federal takeover of the city in February, saying it should be run with “law and order.”
He renewed his focus on crime in DC last week after Edward Coristine, a former Department of Government Efficiency employee, was assaulted in an attempted carjacking.
After that incident, Trump told reporters he was considering having his administration take over the Metropolitan Police Department and bringing in the National Guard. The president also said the administration was going “to look at” overturning DC Home Rule – which gives certain congressional powers regarding the governance of the district to local government entities, including the mayor and city council.
“We have to run DC. This has to be the best-run place in the country, not the worst-run place in the country,” Trump said Wednesday.
The Trump administration can take over the DC police department, which the president has said he’s considering, and deploying the National Guard.
Under DC Home Rule, the president can take control of the city’s police for 48 hours if he “determines that special conditions of an emergency nature exist which require the use of the Metropolitan Police force for Federal purposes.”
He would then have access to any services of the police department that he “may deem necessary and appropriate.”
Trump can retain control for a longer period if he notifies the chairs and ranking members of the congressional committees that handle legislative matters related to Washington, DC, including the House Committee on Oversight and Reform and the Senate Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee. Any request of over 30 days must be passed into law.
But for Trump to truly have the federal government take over governing of Washington, he would need Congress to pass legislation, something which would be unlikely in a tightly controlled Senate.
CNN’s Brian Todd, Alex Daugherty, Shania Shelton and Josh Campbell contributed to this report.
The story and headline have been updated with additional details.
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