The city’s statistics show a sustained, multiyear decline in violent offences, though public perceptions of crime are often out of step with data.
It marks a dramatic escalation in tensions between Trump and DC officials, who had sought for months to maintain a delicate peace with the White House.
And in the immediate aftermath, it appeared to set the stage for the city itself to once again become a major partisan flashpoint.
“This dire public safety crisis stems directly from the abject failures of the city’s local leadership,” Trump said during a press briefing announcing the takeover.
“We’re going to do it right. We’re going to get it done quickly.”
The move represents the first time a president has exercised his authority to federalise the police for up to 30 days under DC’s 1973 Home Rule Act, which says it can be done only under the “special conditions of an emergency”.
Yet the decision to declare such an emergency came so abruptly that aides on Monday (Tuesday AEST) were still finalising how long they planned to control the police — and what exactly they would direct them to do.
The Trump administration had worked quietly alongside city officials for months to crack down on crime and promote “beautification” in DC, in keeping with an executive order that the president signed in March.
The two sides had carved out what aides to both Trump and Democratic Mayor Muriel Bowser described as a productive relationship.
But in recent days, Trump was spurred to go further amid high-profile incidents of violent crime — most notably the assault last week of a former Department of Government Efficiency employee — and his own observations of homeless encampments and roadside debris, some photos of which he posted on Truth Social over the weekend.
The White House expects to keep control of the police force for all 30 days, though the official cautioned that could change.
The National Guard troops will focus on protecting federal assets within the city, while also protecting law enforcement officers making arrests.
Trump has long focused on crime and cleanliness in DC and other cities, sparring periodically with Democratic mayors during his first term over law enforcement.
In the summer of 2020, he weighed a federal takeover of the DC police to quell demonstrations over the police killing of George Floyd.
That has intensified since his return to office, in the wake of campaign trail vows to impose law and order — and, some allies said, as Trump plans for the city to host the US’ 250th anniversary celebration next year.
Trump has repeatedly marveled that he’ll get to preside over the landmark event.
“Over and over again, he has said that this city is not ready for our 250th anniversary,” said one person close to the White House, granted anonymity to characterise Trump’s private remarks.
“If this city doesn’t have a better reputation for safety and beauty and cleanliness, we’re not going to get the visitors — we’re just not.”
Trump administration officials offered few specifics on what the law enforcement ramp-up would look like, with Attorney General Pam Bondi saying only that crime in DC would be “ending” on her watch.
And while other officials compared the effort to a previous partnership with Virginia state officials to crack down on crime, the administration in this case made clear it was stepping in with or without local leaders’ consent.
Instead, city leaders including Bowser and Police Chief Pamela Smith were blindsided by Trump’s announcement, the mayor acknowledged.
Brian Schwalb, the DC attorney general who is elected independently from the mayor, immediately slammed the takeover as “unprecedented, unnecessary, and unlawful.”
“There is no crime emergency in the District of Columbia,” he said in a statement that noted violent crime reached three-decade lows in 2024 and is trending downward again this year.
“We are considering all of our options and will do what’s necessary to protect the rights and safety of District residents.”
Bowser stopped short of directly criticising the White House during a press conference, but called the administration’s move “unsettling and unprecedented.”
The White House had left her with the impression over the weekend only that it planned to activate the National Guard, rather than taking the arguably more dramatic step of exerting control over the city’s police force.
“You’re familiar with the rhetoric about this city and how long it goes back,” Bowser said of Trump’s criticism of DC.
“We also know that we’re not experiencing a spike in crime, but a decrease in crime.”
Trump officials were due to meet with Smith later in the day to discuss the specifics of the federal involvement in policing, which DC officials sought to portray more as closer co-operation rather than an outright seizure of power.
Bowser said she had pledged to work with Jeanine Pirro, the Trump-appointed US attorney for DC, on tightening certain laws in the wake of her complaints about juvenile crime in the city.
But other Democrats in DC and elsewhere cast the move as an extraordinary power grab, even as they debated how forcefully to respond to an action that some saw as an attempt to distract more from troublesome issues facing the White House.
Those include the blowback the administration is facing over its handling of the files related to convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein, as well as fresh signs that the economy is slowing.
Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer criticised the takeover as “a political ploy and attempted distraction from Trump’s other scandals.”
California Governor Gavin Newsom, meanwhile, drew direct parallels to Trump’s deployment of the National Guard in Los Angeles in June.
“He was just getting warmed up in Los Angeles,” Newsom wrote on X. “This is what dictators do.”
Pressed on the broader implications of Trump’s involvement in DC’s policing, Bowser took a more circumspect approach.
“I’m going to work every day to make sure it’s not a complete disaster,” she said.
