Donald Trump unveiled a plan in Washington DC to roll out the National Guard, take the reins of the police force and call in FBI agents — all in the name of tackling street crime.
The president teased that DC could be a model for other cities as he charged ahead with a plan Tuesday to “liberate” the district and allow police to “do whatever the hell they want” in the face of provocations.
“You spit, and we hit – and they get hit real hard,” Trump said, insisting safety in Washington was worse than the streets of Baghdad, Mexico City and Bogota, Columbia.
Under the plan, Attorney General Pam Bondi will be put in charge of the Metropolitan Police Department, which is currently run by the DC Mayor’s office and the Chief of Police.
A national emergency declaration has also been declared, homeless people will be forced to leave the area, and a much broader army presence – in DC and across the U.S – has not been ruled out.
“It’s become a situation of complete and total lawlessness,” Trump said, flanked by Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth, Attorney General Pam Bondi, FBI Director Kash Patel, Interior Minister Doug Burgam and former Fox News host turned DC Attorney General Jeanine Pirro.
“It’s time for dramatic action.”
The move puts Trump one step closer to something he has touted for years: “federalizing” Washington by consolidating political and bureaucratic power over all tiers of government.
But the move is likely to prove contentious, with DC Mayor Muriel Bowser, who has been at pains not to agitate Trump since he returned to the White House, pointing out that crime is actually falling.
According to the latest police figures, crime in DC has fallen by 26 percent overall this year. Homicides are down 12 percent compared to 2024; robberies are down 28 percent and assault with a deadly weapon has fallen by 20 percent.
“We are not experiencing a spike in crime; in fact we are watching our crime numbers go down,” Bowser told MSNBC this weekend.
Trump’s announcement is the first time he has appeared with Bondi since the fallout from the Epstein scandal escalated last month.
It also comes as the White House considers re-classifying marijuana as a less dangerous drug – something that critics believe could send mixed messages given the president’s vow to crack down on drugs and crime in DC.
The announcement also comes after one-time DOGE operative, Edward “Big Balls” Coristine was violently bashed at Dupont Circle at around 3 a.m. on August 3 – an assault Trump highlighted to justify his latest push to take over the city.
Two suspects, a 15-year-old male and a 15-year-old female, have so far been arrested and charged with unarmed carjacking, and photos of another person of interest has been released by police.
After the assault last week, Trump ordered a range of federal law enforcement agencies to deploy on to DC streets over the weekend.
Among them were officers from the Drug Enforcement Agency, the United States Capitol police, the Federal Protective Service, and the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives.
During his Monday morning press conference, Trump described DC as a city “overtaken by violent gangs and bloodthirsty criminals, roving mobs of wild youth, drugged out maniacs and homeless people”.
“Let me be crystal clear: crime in DC is ending today,” said Bondi, who has kept a low profile for the past few weeks. “We are going to use every power we have to fight criminals here.”
Pirro added that she wants to “change the law” to bring charges against youth criminal defendants, while Hegseth said members of the National Guard will be “flowing” into the capital over the coming week.
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