WASHINGTON (LOOTPRESS) – President Donald Trump announced Monday that he is deploying about 800 National Guard members to Washington, D.C., and placing the Metropolitan Police Department under federal control, citing a need to restore “law and order” in the nation’s capital.
Speaking from the White House alongside top administration officials, Trump said he is invoking Section 740 of the District of Columbia Home Rule Act of 1973 to give Attorney General Pam Bondi direct control of the city’s police force. He also declared a public safety emergency and ordered the removal of homeless encampments.
“This is liberation day in D.C.,” Trump said. “We’re going to take our capital back.”
The president’s executive order states the takeover will continue until he determines conditions have been restored. Federal law allows such control for up to 30 days, unless extended by Congress. The House Oversight Committee confirmed it had been notified of an extension beyond the initial 48-hour limit.
Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth said the Guard began mobilizing Monday morning and will be deployed throughout the week. Trump also said additional federal law enforcement officers were sent into the city overnight Sunday.
The move comes despite police data showing violent crime in D.C. has dropped sharply in recent months, with robberies down 28% and overall violent crime down 26% so far this year compared to 2024. Last year saw the lowest violent crime rate in more than three decades, according to the Justice Department. Trump dismissed those figures as “phony numbers” and pointed to recent high-profile crimes as justification for the action.
Mayor Muriel Bowser pushed back, saying the city is not experiencing a crime spike and calling the federal takeover an overreach. Del. Eleanor Holmes Norton, D-D.C., labeled it a “historic assault on D.C. home rule” and “counterproductive.”
Trump said the effort is part of a broader push to address crime in major U.S. cities. “We’re starting very strongly with D.C.,” he said. “We’re going to clean it up real quick.”
