President Donald Trump called on Washington, D.C., Mayor Muriel Bowser to clean up homeless encampments in the District as city officials navigate working with the Trump administration.

Trump railed against D.C. over its crime while on the campaign trail and promised to “beautify it.” He has since threatened to take control of the federal district away from the local government.

Recommended Stories

• Trump's address to Congress outpaced Biden's final State of the Union speech
• Trump convenes Cabinet meeting with Musk to instruct agency leaders to work with DOGE
• Chinese Embassy 'war' warning spurs strong Trump administration defense of tariffs

The president said in a post on Truth Social on Wednesday that the mayor’s office “must clean up all of the unsightly homeless encampments in the City,” or his administration may have to do so, seemingly hinting at possible federal intervention in the city’s affairs.

“We have notified the Mayor of Washington, D.C., that she must clean up all of the unsightly homeless encampments in the City, specifically including the ones outside of the State Department, and near the White House. If she is not capable of doing so, we will be forced to do it for her!” Trump said.

“Washington, D.C. must become CLEAN and SAFE! We want to be proud of our Great Capital again. Thank you Mayor Bowser for your efforts on behalf of the Citizens of our Country. Hopefully you will be successful!” Trump added.

Trump’s relationship with the D.C. mayor has been significantly different from that during his first term when his administration clashed with the local government frequently.

One key instance was when the city renamed part of 16th Street near the White House as “Black Lives Matter Plaza” in June 2020. The BLM Plaza mural has been a target of Republicans since its inception, and following Congressional Republicans’ calls to remove it, Bowser announced that there would be changes.

“We have long considered Black Lives Matter Plaza’s evolution and the plaza will be part of D.C.’s America 250 mural project, where we will invite students and artists to create new murals across all eight wards,” Bowser said Tuesday.

BOWSER SIGNALS END OF BLM PLAZA AFTER GOP PUSH TO AXE FUNDING

While the D.C. government and Trump have differences, both have been unified in their push to return workers to the office.

The federal government’s return-to-work orders have caused the D.C. Metro’s ridership to boom to near pre-pandemic levels for weekday travel.