U.S. President Donald Trump has taken temporary control of Washington’s police force and ordered 800 National Guard troops into the city, citing a “public safety emergency” despite crime rates falling sharply in recent years.
Trump announced the measures at The White House on Monday, bypassing the city’s Democratic leadership under powers in the District of Columbia’s Home Rule Act. The law allows the president to assume command of the Metropolitan Police Department for up to 30 days in an “emergency.”
Attorney General Pam Bondi will oversee the force, while between 100 and 200 Guard members will be deployed at any given time to assist law enforcement with administrative, logistical and public-order duties, the U.S. Army said.
The move follows a similar deployment to Los Angeles in June, now the subject of a federal court challenge over whether the president violated U.S. law by acting without a governor’s consent. Trump signalled that Chicago could be next.
Washington’s Mayor Muriel Bowser rejected the president’s claims of “unchecked violence,” noting violent crime in the city dropped 35% in 2024 and has fallen a further 26% in the first seven months of 2025, according to police data. The city’s attorney general, Brian Schwalb, called Trump’s action “unlawful” and said legal options were being considered.
Trump’s announcement came as his administration cut $20 million (about £15.7 million) in federal urban security funding for the National Capital Region, a 44% reduction from last year. He also pledged to clear homeless encampments on federal land, without detailing relocation plans.
The president has full authority over the 2,700-strong D.C. National Guard, unlike in states where governors command the force. Federal troops have been sent to the capital repeatedly in recent decades, including during the 6 January 2021 Capitol attack and the 2020 anti-racism protests.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy says the Gaza peace deal achieved under U.S. mediation offers hope that similar pressure could be used to end ...
U.S. Vice President JD Vance said Washington holds greater leverage than China in the deepening trade standoff, after President Donald Trump announced...
President of Azerbaijan Ilham Aliyev arrived in Egypt for a working visit at the invitation of President of the United States Donald Trump and Preside...
Ukraine's President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said he has spoken with U.S. President Donald Trump for the second time in two days, discussing strengthening ...
The Philippines and China accused each other on 12 October of responsibility for a maritime confrontation near disputed islands in the South China Sea...
Ukraine's President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said he has spoken with U.S. President Donald Trump for the second time in two days, discussing strengthening of Kyiv's air defence, resilience and long-range capabilities, Zelenskyy said on 12 October.
The imposing figures of three Confederate leaders, carved into the granite face of Georgia’s Stone Mountain, have loomed over the landscape outside Atlanta since the 1970s, a silent tribute to the Southern cause in the U.S. Civil War.
Europe must strengthen its own digital infrastructure to lessen reliance on U.S. providers, though this should not mean cutting ties with them entirely, Germany’s Digital Minister Karsten Wildberger told Reuters.
U.S. Ambassador to India Sergio Gor said he held talks with Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi, focusing on key bilateral issues including trade, defence, and technology.
Video from the USGS (United States Geological Survey) showed on Friday (19 September) the Kilauea volcano in Hawaii erupting and spewing lava.
At least 69 people have died and almost 150 injured following a powerful 6.9-magnitude earthquake off the coast of Cebu City in the central Visayas region of the Philippines, officials said, making it one of the country’s deadliest disasters this year.
Authorities in California have identified the dismembered body discovered in a Tesla registered to singer D4vd as 15-year-old Celeste Rivas Hernandez, who had been missing from Lake Elsinore since April 2024.
A powerful 7.4-magnitude earthquake struck off Russia’s Kamchatka Peninsula on 13 September with no tsunami threat, coming just weeks after the region endured a devastating 8.8-magnitude quake — the strongest since 1952.
A shooting in Nice, southeastern France, left two people dead and five injured on Friday, authorities said.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy says the Gaza peace deal achieved under U.S. mediation offers hope that similar pressure could be used to end Russia’s conflict in Ukraine.
Ukraine's President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said he has spoken with U.S. President Donald Trump for the second time in two days, discussing strengthening of Kyiv's air defence, resilience and long-range capabilities, Zelenskyy said on 12 October.
The Philippines and China accused each other on 12 October of responsibility for a maritime confrontation near disputed islands in the South China Sea, further escalating tensions in the resource-rich waterway.
Madagascar's presidency said on Sunday that "an attempted illegal and forcible seizure of power" was underway in the African nation, without providing details, a day after some soldiers joined a protest movement that had begun last month.
French Prime Minister Sebastien Lecornu faces a race against time to form a government by Monday's budget deadline, as divisions emerged within the conservative Les Republicains party over whether to accept ministerial posts in his cabinet.
You can download the AnewZ application from Play Store and the App Store.
What is your opinion on this topic?
Leave the first comment