Trump Federalizes D.C. Police, Deploys National Guard
By • August 11, 2025 4 1150
President Donald Trump announced Monday that he is deploying the National Guard and federalizing the Metropolitan Police Department to crack down on crime.
The unprecedented actions — detailed at the hour-and-40-minutes-long press conference at the White House were not totally unexpected — and are the biggest curtailment of Home Rule since the D.C. Control Board in the 1990s. The Press Briefing Room was packed with administration leaders and overpacked with reporters.
“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 going to take our capital back,” Trump said. “We’re taking it back.”
“I’m officially invoking Section 740 of the District of Columbia Home Rule Act … and placing the D.C. Metropolitan Police under federal control … in addition, I’m deploying the National guard to help establish law, order and public safety… they’ll allowed to do their job properly.”
Attorney General Pam Bondi will directly control the Metropolitan Police Department. Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth will deploy 800 D.C. National Guard members — “much more if necessary, much more,” he added.
Washingtonians are used to seeing U.S. Park Police and Secret Service Police in their neighborhoods, but agents from the FBI and the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives have added to street patrols, along with the Drug Enforcement Administration, Immigration and Customs Enforcement and the Marshals Service.
Trump also said homeless encampment would be cleared and that the city will be cleaned up and stripped of graffiti to make the city “safe and beautiful.”
Still, city officials and others have argued that police statistics show homicides, robberies and burglaries are down this year when compared with this time last year. Violent crime is down 26 percent compared with this time a year ago. According to the Metropolitan Police Department, homicides in D.C. are down 32 percent year-to-date, following a 31 percent decrease in 2024 compared to 2023.
Mayor Muriel Bowser was not at the White House for the Aug. 11 announcement but said Sunday about possible deployment of the D.C. National Guard along Washington streets on MSNBC’s “The Weekend,” “I just think that’s not the most efficient use of our Guard.”
“None of those conditions exist in our city right now,” she said, responding to accusations of out-of-control crime. “We are not experiencing a spike in crime. In fact, we’re watching our crime numbers go down.”
At the end of the Monday press conference, Trump said of his emergency plans for D.C.: “Other cities are watching. They’re all watching.”
Federal control of MPD has never happened, and the administration needs Congress to extend its 30-day takeover.
Love it, what took the feds so long!!!!!!!
Yes, they would have been very helpful on January 6th.
Yes, they would have been very helpful on January 6th…
If everyone is safer and crime goes down, it’s a winner.