President Donald Trump announced Monday that he is placing Washington D.C. police under federal control and deploying 800 National Guardsmen to combat the rampant crime and homelessness plaguing the nation’s Capitol.
Trump signed two Executive Actions in the Oval Office Monday morning to deal with the crime conditions in the city.
- Declaring a Crime Emergency in D.C.
- Mobilizing the D.C. National Guard
“This is liberation day in D.C., and we’re gonna take our capital back,” Trump told reporters during a press conference at the White House.
The president explained that he was taking the “historic action” through section 740 of the District of Columbia Home Rule Act, which allows him to place the metropolitan police department under direct federal control.
Trump said Attorney General Pam Bondi will command the Metropolitan Police Department, and Drug Enforcement Agency(DEA) chief Terry Cole will serve as interim D.C. police commissioner.
“Our new DEA administrator, who is one of the top in the country. He better be, Terry, if you’re not I’m going to get rid of you so fast, Terry Cole,” Trump said. “We just just got him, the most highly recommended person. And, you’ll be designated as the interim federal commissioner of the Metropolitan Police Department. Okay? And you run them tough. They’re good. You have a lot of good people. You have people that should be there. You also have people that shouldn’t be there.”
Trump threatened to take federal control of Washington D.C., last week, after former DOGE employee Edward Coristine—also known as “Big Balls”—was viciously attacked by a mob of thugs.
“Crime in Washington, D.C., is totally out of control. Local “youths” and gang members, some only 14, 15, and 16-years-old, are randomly attacking, mugging, maiming, and shooting innocent Citizens, at the same time knowing that they will be almost immediately released,” the president posted on Truth Social on Tuesday.
Trump faulted no-cash bail as a major source of crime problems in cities like Washington, D.C., Chicago and New York City.
“This dire public safety crisis stems directly from the abject failures of the city’s local leadership. The radical left City Council adopted no cash bail,” Trump said. “Every place in the country where you have no cash bail is a disaster. That’s what started the problem in New York. And they don’t change it. They don’t want to change it. That’s what started it in Chicago. I mean, bad politicians started it, bad leadership, started it. But that was the one thing that’s central. No-cash bail. Somebody murders somebody and they’re out on no-cash bail before the day is out.”
Trump put Chicago and New York City on notice, saying he would intervene there too if they don’t take control their own crime and homelessness issues.
“I’m going to look at New York in a little while. Let’s do this. Let’s do this together. Let’s see. It’s going to go pretty quickly,” Trump said.
“And if we need to, we’re going to do the same thing in Chicago, which is a disaster. We have a mayor there who is totally incompetent. He’s an incompetent man. And we have an incompetent governor there. [J.B.] Pritzker’s an incompetent. His family threw him out of the business, and he ran for governor. And now I understand he wants to be president, but I noticed he lost a little weight. So maybe he has a chance. You know, you never know what happens,” he continued.
The president said the current state of America’s capital is an embarrassment.
“It’s a very strong reflection of our country, Trump declared. “If our capital is dirty, our whole country is dirty.”
Joining Trump at the presser were Bondi, Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth, FBI Director Kash Patel, U.S. Attorney for D.C. Jeanine Pirro, and other top administration officials.
Hegseth told reporters that the National Guard troops would be deploying “in the coming week.”
The attorney general vowed to “use every power we have” to fight crime and thanked the president for caring and fixing the problem.
“Families come here every summer, Bondi stated. “D.C. should be a place where everyone feels safe.”
U.S. Attorney for D.C. Jeanine Pirro called out the “young punks” wreaking havoc across the city and vowed that they would not “get away with it anymore.”
“I see too much violent crime being committed by young punks who think that they can get together in gangs and crews and beat the hell out of you or anyone else. They don’t care where they are. They can be in Dupont Circle, but they know that we can’t touch them,” Pirro said, adding that “weak laws” protecting juveniles are to blame.
“I can’t touch you if you’re 14, 15, 16, 17 years old and you have a gun. I convict someone of shooting another person with an illegal gun on a public bus, in the chest, with intent to kill. I convict him. You know what the judge gives him? Probation. Says you should go to college,” she added.
“We need to recognize that the people who matter are the law-abiding citizens and it starts today,” Pirro stated. “President Trump is going to make sure these emboldened criminals understand: we see you, we’re watching you, and we’re going to change the law to catch you.”
Pirro went on to say the federal government needs to “go after” the D.C. city council and end their “absurd laws.”
D.C. Attorney General Brian Schwalb (D) derided Trump’s announcement, Monday, arguing that the D.C. Home Rule Act does not apply because, in his view, there is no crime emergency in the nation’s capital.
“The Administration’s actions are unprecedented, unnecessary, and unlawful,” Schwalb wrote on X. “There is no crime emergency in the District of Columbia. Violent crime in DC reached historic 30-year lows last year, and is down another 26% so far this year.”
Schwalb went on to signal that a lawsuit may soon be ensuing to stop Trump’s crackdown on crime in the nation’s Capitol.
“We are considering all of our options and will do what is necessary to protect the rights and safety of District residents,” he continued.
The DC Police Union reacted to Trump’s federal takeover, saying Monday that it “acknowledges and supports the President’s announcement this morning to assume temporary control of the MPD in response to the escalating crime crisis in Washington, DC.”
Union Chairman Gregg Pemberton: “We stand with the President in recognizing that Washington, DC, cannot continue on this trajectory. Crime is out of control, and our officers are stretched beyond their limits. The federal intervention is a critical stopgap, but the MPD needs proper staffing and support to thrive. This can only happen by repealing the disastrous policies that have driven out our best officers and hindered recruitment.”
Here is the text of the Declaring a Crime Emergency in D.C. Executive Order:
By the authority vested in me as President by the Constitution and the laws of the United States of America, including section 740 of the District of Columbia Self-Government and Governmental Reorganization Act (Public Law 93-198), as amended (section 740 of the Home Rule Act), and section 301 of title 3, United States Code, it is hereby ordered:
Section 1. Crime is out of control in the District of Columbia. Washington, District of Columbia, is our Nation’s capital and home to the central institutions of American governance. Yet rising violence in the capital now urgently endangers public servants, citizens, and tourists, disrupts safe and secure transportation and the proper functioning of the Federal Government, and forces the diversion of critical public resources toward emergency response and security measures. The city government’s failure to maintain public order and safety has had a dire impact on the Federal Government’s ability to operate efficiently to address the Nation’s broader interests without fear of our workers being subjected to rampant violence.
The increase in violent crime in the heart of our Republic has consequences beyond the individual tragedies that have dominated media coverage. Such lawlessness also poses intolerable risks to the vital Federal functions that take place in the District of Columbia. Violence and crime hamper the recruitment and retention of essential Federal employees, undermine critical functions of Government and thus the well-being of the entire Nation, and erode confidence in the strength of the United States. These conditions are disgraceful anywhere, but particularly in the capital of our Nation and the seat of the Federal Government. Citizens, tourists, and Federal workers deserve peace and security, not fear and violence. The smooth functioning of executive departments and agencies, courts, diplomatic missions, and the Federal Government demands an effective law-enforcement mechanism capable of halting the precipitous rise in violent crime, not one that permits Government workers to be violently attacked by mobs or fatally shot close to the Federal buildings where they work.
The magnitude of the violent crime crisis places the District of Columbia among the most violent jurisdictions in the United States. In 2024, the District of Columbia averaged one of the highest robbery and murder rates of large cities nationwide. Indeed, the District of Columbia now has a higher violent crime, murder, and robbery rate than all 50 States, recording a homicide rate in 2024 of 27.54 per 100,000 residents. It also experienced the Nation’s highest vehicle theft rate with 842.4 thefts per 100,000 residents — over three times the national average of 250.2 thefts per 100,000 residents. The District of Columbia is, by some measures, among the top 20 percent of the most dangerous cities in the world.
As President, I have a solemn duty to take care that our laws are faithfully executed, and a sacred responsibility to protect the safety and security of United States citizens who live in and visit our Nation’s capital, including Federal workers who live or commute into the District of Columbia. These conditions cannot persist. We will make the District of Columbia one of the safest cities in the world, not the most dangerous.
Sec. 2. Services of the Metropolitan Police Department of the District of Columbia. I determine that special conditions of an emergency nature exist that require the use of the Metropolitan Police Department of the District of Columbia (Metropolitan Police force) for Federal purposes, including maintaining law and order in the Nation’s seat of Government; protecting Federal buildings, national monuments, and other Federal property; and ensuring conditions necessary for the orderly functioning of the Federal Government. Effective immediately, the Mayor of the District of Columbia (Mayor) shall provide the services of the Metropolitan Police force for Federal purposes for the maximum period permitted under section 740 of the Home Rule Act.
Sec. 3. Operational Control of the Metropolitan Police Department of the District of Columbia. (a) The authority of the President conferred by section 740(a) of the Home Rule Act to direct the Mayor with respect to the current special conditions of an emergency nature is delegated to the Attorney General.
(b) In accordance with section 740(a) of the Home Rule Act, the Mayor shall provide such services of the Metropolitan Police force as the Attorney General may deem necessary and appropriate.
Sec. 4. Monitoring and Recommendations. (a) The Attorney General shall monitor and regularly consult with any senior official the Attorney General deems appropriate on the special conditions of an emergency nature that exist in the District of Columbia that require the use of the Metropolitan Police force for Federal purposes.
(b) The Attorney General shall regularly update me on the status of the special conditions of an emergency nature that exist in the District of Columbia that require the use of the Metropolitan Police force for Federal purposes.
(c) The Attorney General shall inform me of any circumstances that, in the Attorney General’s opinion, might indicate the need for further action by the President or that the action in this order is no longer necessary.
Sec. 5. Severability. If any provision of this order, or the application of any provision to any individual or circumstance, is held to be invalid, the remainder of this order and the application of its other provisions to any other individuals or circumstances shall not be affected thereby.
Sec. 6. General Provisions. (a) Nothing in this order shall be construed to impair or otherwise affect:
(i) the authority granted by law to an executive department or agency, or the head thereof; or
(ii) the functions of the Director of the Office of Management and Budget relating to budgetary, administrative, or legislative proposals.
(b) This order shall be implemented consistent with applicable law and subject to the availability of appropriations.
(c) This order is not intended to, and does not, create any right or benefit, substantive or procedural, enforceable at law or in equity by any party against the United States, its departments, agencies, or entities, its officers, employees, or agents, or any other person.
(d) The costs for publication of this order shall be borne by the Department of Justice.
DONALD J. TRUMP
THE WHITE HOUSE,
August 11, 2025.