by President Donald Trump explained an aggressive plan for the federal government to take over the police in Washington and teased that the same strength could come to other cities throughout the country.
Worked by top officials, including Attorney General Pam Bondi and Minister of Defense Pete Hegseeth, the president announced that the National Guard will be deployed in the capital of the country and that the local police will be placed under federal control.
“This is an emergency,” said Trump. “This is a tragic emergency.”
The president explained a dark portrait of the city during a press conference of 11 August and described it as flooded by homeless people, drug addicts and other “bloodthirsty criminals” who will no longer tolerate his administration.
Many residents and activists have long resisted those characteristics such as false and racially motivated attacks on the city, which have lobbyed for the state in recent years. Mayor Muriel Bowser, for example, pushed back on the president’s claims about increasing crime at the weekend, and said that residents “do not experience a crime peak.”
But Trump and his allies are enthusiastic about the attention of individual violent crimes against reporters, assistants from the White House and conference employees who often take newspapers and shock tourists.
Democrats and other critics pointed out that according to the Washington’s murder figure, according to the Metropolitan Police Department, is falling by 32% years to date. They called Trump’s movement another abuse of his executive authority.
Here are important take -away restaurants of the Trump press conference.
Trump administration that takes over the DC police
President Donald Trump, alongside Minister of Defense Pete Hegseeth (L) and attorney General Pam Bondi (R), speaks during a press conference to discuss crime in Washington, DC in the Brady Press Briefing Room in the White House in Washington, DC, on 11 August 2025.
Trump signed two executive orders, the first convocation of the Home Rule Act of 1973, so that the president can take control of the Washington police for 48 hours if they determine “that special conditions of emergency leather exist …”
Such a takeover can be expanded with the approval of the congress, but each request of more than 30 days must be passed on in the law.
In a separate order, Trump ordered Hegseeth to use National Guard troops in Washington, who also authorized him to collaborate with governors from other states to use their guard.
Important officials within the administration are now getting the task of supervising the DC law enforcement agencies, including Bondi, who will order the local metropolitan police. Drug enforcement authorities Terry Cole, which was sworn in last month, will serve as an interim federal commissioner of the police.
White House Spotlights Doge Staffer and other victims of crime
During the press conference, Trump scattered in many individual cases of violent crime that he argued that he justified his takeover, such as the fatal shooting on 21 May of two Israeli embassy staff outside a museum in the city center.
One at the top of the thoughts was the attack of Edward Coristine, who worked as an employee at the Ministry of Government Efficiency. A police report on 3 August, obtained by USA Today, said that officers were held a group of about 10 young people around Coristine’s car and attack him around 3 o’clock
“He kept dripping in blood,” said Trump. “He thought he was dead, with a broken nose and concussion. Can’t believe he lives. He can’t believe it.”
The president also called on Phillip Todd, a former assistant of Senator Rand Paul, R-Kenskucky, who was stabbed in 2023. Trump described the attacker, identified by the police as Glynn Neal, as a “demented lunatic.”
In an Augustus profile of the Washington Post, Todd said, a son of Christian missionaries, that he had forgiven Neal and had reconsider his views on crime and punishment.
Chicago, other cities could see federal supervision, Trump warns
While he was losing individual things, Trump noted that his takeover from Washington to cities could be brought as Chicago; Baltimore; Los Angeles and Oakland, California.
Those democratically controlled cities and states, Trump said, have adopted left -loving policy, such “no cash bail” rules that he blamed for violent crime.
“This issue has a direct influence on the functioning of the federal government and is really a threat to America,” he said. “It’s a threat to our country. We also have other cities that are bad, very bad.”
Earlier this summer, Chicago was in the news for a historical decrease in crime that mayor Brandon Johnson, who called Trump during the press conference, told.
August 1, 2025; Chicago, il, vs; Mayor Brandon Johnson of Chicago announces that Major League Baseball and the Chicago Cubs are organizing the 2027 All Star game on Wigley Field. Mandatory Credit: David Banks-Imagn Images
“This reduction in hate crimes and violence is generally proof of what is possible when we invest in a holistic way in people and safety safety,” said Johnson in a statement of 18 July that “strategic, constitutional police” and “jobs for young people, access to mental health care and housing people can pay.”
Similar trends have taken place in Baltimore, where a decrease of 24% in murders and a decrease of 18% in non -Fatale shootings has been seen, according to Mayor Brandon Scott.
In a statement to USA Today, the Democratic Mayor’s Association said that the federal intervention is not necessary and argued that the president wants to create a “political charade” to distract voters.
“Let’s be clear: the crime has fallen in most major cities – including Washington, DC – despite Donald Trump, not because of him,” the group said. “If Trump really would give it to reduce crime, he would not have made unprecedented cuts on public safety programs that actually work.”
The takeover of Washington’s congress could come afterwards
Trump’s performance in Washington could be followed by further changes, in particular to the status of home rules, which is often a favorite boxing bag for congress republicans.
In anticipation of the president’s press conference, Senator Mike Lee, R-Utah, stated that now is time for legislators to take control of the city.
“We have to pass the Bowser Act in September and return the full control of Washington to the congress,” said Lee in a post of 11 August on X.
The bill, called “Supervision of Washington and Security for every resident” was introduced earlier this year and was named after Bowser as a criticism of crime and alleged corruption in the city.
Lee played the measure together with Rep. Andy Ogles, R-Kenennessee, and quoted an ongoing scandal in which a police commander was involved in Washington who was suspended in July for alleging changing crime statistics. He also noticed how in some news items local residents said they were afraid of talking about crime.
Trump seemed to refer to Ogles-Lee’s proposal to withdraw the home rule. “We are going to change the statue and I have to let the Republicans vote because the Democrats are weak in crime,” he said.
Democrat Point Fingers on DC Statehood, while others focus on Trump
National Democrats took a few fluctuations on Trump’s statement and threw it out as a political trick than a fight to improve public safety.
“The most violent cities are in the Republican States and there is no acquisition there,” said Senator Chris Murphy, D-Connecticut, a rumor 2028 Presidential Competer, in a position on X. “This is just another attempt to distract from Trump’s corruption and Dissident.”
Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz, a former Democratic Vice -Presidential Nominated, described Trump’s announcement in large terms and said on X: “The road to authoritarianism is strewn with people who tell you that you are exaggerated.”
But some Democrats said that the Washington party could not protect when it got the chance four years ago when Joe Biden was still president and they ran Congress.
“Trump is going to federalize,” said Rep. Eric Swalwell, D-California, in a post of 11 August on X.
“Senate Dems could have stopped this when we had the power,” he added “in 2021, the house voted to make DC a state, but a few Senate Dems Krimpen and starved to the filibuster. Now DC will be under the control of an prospective dictator.”
This article originally appeared on USA Today: President Trump takes over the armed forces of Washington: 5 collection restaurants
