President Donald Trump announced the deployment of 800 National Guard troops to Washington and placed the city’s police under federal control, citing what he called a surge in violent crime despite official data showing a sharp decline.
Speaking at the White House alongside Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth and Attorney General Pam Bondi, Trump said the measures were needed because “our capital city has been overtaken by violent gangs and bloodthirsty criminals.” He warned that U.S. military forces could also be deployed “if needed” and confirmed that Bondi would oversee the police takeover.
The move comes despite Washington’s own statistics showing violent crime fell 35% in 2024 to a 30-year low, and dropped a further 26% in the first seven months of 2025. Overall crime was down 7% in the same period.
Mayor Muriel Bowser rejected Trump’s portrayal of the city, saying Washington was “not experiencing a crime spike” and warning that the president was manufacturing a crisis to expand his authority over the Democratic-run city.
The deployment follows days of increased federal law enforcement activity in Washington, with agents from the FBI, ICE, DEA, and ATF fanning out across the city. Trump invoked a section of the District of Columbia Home Rule Act that permits temporary federal control of the police in “special conditions of an emergency nature,” declaring a “public safety emergency.”
He has also suggested overturning the 1973 law that allows D.C. residents to elect their own mayor and council, a change that would require an act of Congress. Critics have noted that Trump’s own Federal Emergency Management Agency has cut the capital region’s urban security funding by 44% this year.
The decision mirrors past actions by Trump, including sending 5,000 National Guard troops to Los Angeles last year over immigration raid protests and deploying the Guard in Washington during 2020’s racial justice demonstrations, both of which drew sharp criticism.
Under federal law, the U.S. military is largely barred from domestic law enforcement, though the president has direct authority over the D.C. National Guard, unlike in states where governors hold that power.
Trump has long used urban crime as a political theme, dating back to his 1989 call for the death penalty in the Central Park jogger case, involving five Black and Latino youths who were later exonerated. The men sued Trump for defamation after he repeated false claims about their guilt during a debate last year.
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