Washington (AP) – President Donald Trump said on Monday that he took over Washington’s police department and activate 800 members of the National Guard in the hope of reducing the crime, even if the city’s officers in the country’s capital already fall in the country’s capital.
The president, who was flanked by his Attorney General, his Defense Minister and the FBI director, said that he had declared an emergency for public security and his administration would remove homeless camps.
“We will take back our capital,” said Trump, adding that he would also “get rid of the slums”.
For Trump, the efforts to take over public security in Washington reflects an escalation of his aggressive approach to prosecution. District of Columbia’s status as a congress federal area offers him the unique opportunity to drive his challenging school on crime, although he has not proposed solutions for the main causes of homelessness or crime.
Attorney General Pam Bondi will take responsibility for the Metropolitan Police Department in Washington, Trump said when he also scolded potholes and graffiti in the city and described it as “embarrassing”. The president has not created a schedule for the control of the police department, but he is constrained to 30 days as part of the law, unless he receives the consent of the congress.
When Trump spoke, demonstrators gathered in front of the White House to protest his movements. And local officials rejected the representation of the district by the Republican President as criminal and illegally described his actions.
“The government’s measures are unprecedented, unnecessary and illegal,” said Brian Schwalb, Attorney General of District of Columbia. “There is no emergency for crime in the District of Columbia.”
Schwalb, a democrat, said that the violent crime in the district had reached historical 30-year-old deep stalls last year and has dropped another 26% this year.
The Mayor of Washington, Muriel Bowser, said she would follow the law regarding the “so -called if necessary”, although she stated that Trump’s actions were a reason why the District of Columbia should be a state with legal protection against such measures.
“Although this campaign is worrying and unprecedented today, I cannot say that we are completely surprised in view of the rhetoric,” said Bowser.
Fight crimes
The President rejected the idea that Washington had to augment his police from 3,500 officers, even when he tried to have more armed staff through the city to reduce crime.
“What they need are rules and regulations, and they need the right people to implement them,” he said.
Trump called in Section 740 of the Home Rule Act by District of Columbia in an executive order to explain a “crime emergency” so that his government could take over the city’s police. He signed a guideline for Defense Minister Pete Hegseth to activate the National Guard.
While Trump presented himself as a friend of the law enforcement agencies and enjoyed the political support of many of their groups, he began or committed the punishments of the over 1,500 people who were charged in the deadly January 6, 2021 for crimes who were condemned for the civil servants.
Approximately 500 federal
More than 100 FBI agents and about 40 agents with the office for alcohol, tobacco, firearms and explosives are among the patrols in Washington, how the person has informed about the plans. The drug enforcement administration, the immigration and customs authority as well as the marshal service contribute civil servants.
The person was not entitled to publicly discuss personnel matters and spoke with the AP on the condition of anonymity. The Ministry of Justice had no comment on Monday morning.
The national guard
The Democrat in Bowser previously questioned the effectiveness of the operate of the national guard to enforce urban laws and said that the federal government could be far more helpful by financing more public prosecutors or filling the 15 jobs at the DC Court of Justice, some of which have been open for years.
Bowser cannot activate the national guard itself, but it can submit a request to the Pentagon.
“I just think that this is not the most efficient use of our guard,” she said on Sunday about MSNBCs “The Weekend” and admitted “the president’s call to how to use the guard”.
Bowser found that the violent crime in Washington has decreased since an augment of 2023. During a press conference on Monday, she emphasized that she believed that Trump’s views of the city were shaped by the “challenging times” of the Coronavirus pandemic when he rose against protests and crime when the country recovered from the Ausreak.
Focus on homelessness
Trump emphasized the removal of the homeless population of Washington, although it was unclear where the thousands of people would go, and he gave no details on Monday at his press conference.
“The homeless people have to move out immediately,” Trump wrote in a social media post on Sunday. “We will give you accommodation, but far away from the capital. The criminals do not have to move out. We will take them to prison where they belong.”
Jesse Rabinowitz, an advocate of homeless, described Trump’s plan as “fascist” and a “waste” of resources. He said that the move was not about security.
“It’s about power, and it’s about fascism and authoritarianism,” said Rabinowitz, the campaign and communication director of the national homelessness right. “If Donald Trump wanted to protect DC, he would finance living space and support. Instead, the Republicans only disappoint health care, and they go through a budget that will worsen the homelessness. They do not take care of helping people.”
Crime statistics
Police statistics show that murders, robberies and burglaries have dropped this year compared to this time in 2024. Overall, violent crimes decreased compared to this time a year ago.
The president criticized the district as a “tent, misery, dirt and crime”, and he seems to drop through the attack on Edward Coristine under the most observable figures for the bureaucracy, known as the Ministry of Government Efficiency. The police arrested two 15-year-olds in attempted carjacking and said she was looking for others.
“This has to be the country’s best running position, not the worst runway in the country,” said Trump on Wednesday.
He called Bowser “a good person who tried it, but she got a lot of chances.”
Trump has repeatedly proposed that Washington’s rule could be returned to the federal authorities. This would require the Home Rule Act from 1973 in the congress, a step that Trump said to examine the lawyers.
Bowser recognized that the law allowed the president to take more control over the city’s police, but only if certain conditions are met.
“There are currently none of these conditions in our city,” she said. “We do not experience an increase in crime. In fact, we see how our crime figures decrease.”
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Associated Press Writers Ashraf Khalil, Alanna Durkin Richer, Nathan Ellgren, Darlene Superville and Michelle L. Price contributed to this report.
