Washington — President Trump is holding a news conference Monday morning to address crime in the nation's capital amid an effort to scale up law enforcement in Washington, D.C., after the president suggested a possible federal takeover.
The Trump administration deployed about 450 federal law enforcement officers overnight Sunday across D.C. from a number of federal law enforcement agencies. The president pledged in a social media post Sunday that he'd "make our Capital safer and more beautiful than it ever was before."
"The Homeless have to move out, IMMEDIATELY," Mr. Trump said. "We will give you places to stay, but FAR from the Capital. The Criminals, you don't have to move out. We're going to put you in jail where you belong. It's all going to happen very fast, just like the Border."
Last week, the White House announced that it had boosted the presence of federal law enforcement in the district after the alleged assault of a former Department of Government Efficiency staffer, as Mr. Trump threatened a federal takeover of the city.
Violent crime in D.C. has been declining for the last year and a half, however, after spiking in 2023, according to local police data. So far this year, robberies have dropped by 29% and overall violent crime is down 26%, as of August 6. Last year, violent crime in the capital city hit its lowest level in more than 30 years, the Justice Department said.
In March, Mr. Trump signed an executive order establishing a "D.C. Safe and Beautiful Task Force." He has said violent crime must be stopped in the District, claiming that it "has become one of the most dangerous cities anywhere in the World." D.C. Mayor Muriel Bowser pushed back on the characterization on MSNBC Sunday, noting that violent crime is down 26% in the district from this time last year.
"We are not experiencing a crime spike," Bowser said.
The mayor said she's talked with Mr. Trump "repeatedly" about crime and that "the president is very aware of our efforts." And she noted that "federal law enforcement is always on the street in D.C. and we always work cooperatively with them."
In another post later Sunday, the president said Bowser "is a good person who has tried, but she has been given many chances, and the Crime Numbers get worse, and the City only gets dirtier and less attractive."
"The American Public is not going to put up with it any longer," Mr. Trump wrote. "Just like I took care of the Border, where you had ZERO Illegals coming across last month, from millions the year before, I will take care of our cherished Capital, and we will make it, truly, GREAT AGAIN! Before the tents, squalor, filth, and Crime, it was the most beautiful Capital in the World."
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