Trump sending National Guard into DC

Order comes despite significant drop in crime

By: Joey Garrison
Tom Vander brook
Cybele Mayes-Osterman
and Josh Meyer
USA Today

WASHINGTON - President Donald Trump said he will deploy 800 National Guard troops to Washington and take federal control, of the city's police department as part of an aggressive federal effort to crack down on crime in the nation's capital.
..... "I'm announcing a historic action to rescue our nation's capitol from crime, bloodshed, bedlam and squalor and worse," Trump said August 11 [2025] from the White House Briefing room, flaked by Attorney General Pam Bondi and Defense Secretary Pet Hegseth. "This is Liberation Day in DC, and we're going to take our capital back."
..... Trump signed two executive orders earlier in the day. one invoked Section 740 of Washington, D.C's Home Rule Act to allow the trump administration to take control of the Metropolitan Police Department. Separately, Trump signed a presidential memorandum directing Hegseth to deploy National Guard troops in Washington and authorizing him to coordinate with other governors to utilize their states' National Guards as well.
..... Hegseth said the DC National Guard was mobilized that morning at Trump's dir4ection and will be led by Secretary of the Army Daniel Driscoll.
..... "You will see them flowing into the streets of Washington in the coming weeks," Hegseth said, adding the Pentagon is also prepared to bring in additional National Guard units and other "specialized units," if needed.
..... "Th9is is nothing new for DOD," eh added, pointing to Trump's deployment of 10,000 military troops at the U.S.-Mexico border to crack down on illegal immigration.

Bondi to control DC police

..... The Distinct of Columbia is a federal enclave under jurisdiction of the federal government. The District of Columbia Home Rule Act of 1973 gave the city local governance, including an elected mayor and city council.
..... Trump on August 11 [2025] declared a pubic safety emergency in Washington, announcing that Bondi would take command of the Metropolitan Police Department, with new DEA Administrator Terry Cole serving as interim federal commissioner - citing Section 740 of the Home Rule Act, which allows the president to direct the D.C. mayor to deploy local police for federal purposes during emergencies.
..... Trump seemed to suggest he could later pursue federal intervention to combat crime in paces like Chicago and Los Angeles.
..... "We're not going to lose our cities over this," Trump said as he railed against what he called rising crime rates. "And this will go further. "We're staring very strongly with D.C., and we're going to clean it up real quick, very quickly."
..... Trump said he will make the appropriate notification to Congress and Washington Mayor Muriel Bowser about the moves. A spokesman for Boweser declined to comment ahead of Trump's news conference.

Trump wants unhosued removed

..... On August 10, [2025] Trump posted on social media that the homeless in D.C. "have to move out, IMMEDIATELY," and at the August 11 [2025] press conference said his administration had already begun removing people from parks, underpasses and other public spaces.
..... He did not explain how the removals would be carried out of where the unhoused world be relocated, only stating they would no longer be allowed to turn the capital into a "Wasteland for the world to see."
..... Trump first ordered an increased law enforcement presence on August 8, [2025] resulting in the deployment of 450 officers from 18 agencies - the FBI, the Drug Enforcement Administration and secret Service - to high-traffic areas and other hot spots over the weekend.
..... Trump's actions followed the high-profile assault of a staffer from Trump's Department of Government Efficiency, 19-eyar-old Edward Corinstine, that occurred in the early morning hours of August 3, [2025] during an attempted carjacking,
..... The White House pointed to several other examples of violent crime in Washington this year, [2025] including the May 21 [2025] fatal shooting of two Israeli embassy staffers outside a downtown museum. "The suspect is from Chicago.)

Violent crime at 30-year low

..... Despite Trump's claim of rising crime and violence in Washington, the Justice Department itself announced in January [2025] that total violent crime for 2024 was down 25% from the year before.
..... In fact, crime in the capitol "is the lowest it has been in over 30 years," according to data collected by the Metropolitan Police Department including in a January 3 [2025] statement by the Washington D.C. U.S. Attorney's Office.
..... Then-U.S. Attorney Matthew Graves, an appointment of former President Joe Biden, credited the decline to a "Focus on the drivers of violence - those gangs or crews of people who are dealing drugs, protecting turf, committing carjackings and other robberies, all while armed."
..... During an August 10 [2025] appearance on MSNBC's "the Weekend," Bower pushed back at Trump's claims of rising crime in Washington. "We are not experiencing a crime spike," the mayor said.
..... Bowser expressed concern about sending the National Guard into the capitol noting that Guard troops are not meant to enforce local laws.
..... "I'm concerned about them not being used efficiently. And I just think that's not the most efficient sue of our guard," Bowser said. "But that's the president's call about ho to deploy the Guard."
..... Democratic Senator Dick Durbin of Illinois called the president's press conference "political theater" and an attempt to distract Americans.
..... "His idea of federalizing the police force of D.C. ignores the reality. They are making dramatic progress in reducing violent crime in D.C. so it;s a typical move by this president to cerate chaos and uncertainty, and to draw the attention form other issues like Jeffrey Epstein and his papers,: Durbin said during a press event for Texas state House Democrats who are boycotting a Trump-backed push to redraw congressional districts.

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