House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries (D-N.Y.) on Monday hammered President Trump’s move to take control of law enforcement in Washington, D.C., saying the president has no justification for taking such a drastic step given falling crime rates in the nation’s capital.
“Violent crime in Washington, D.C. is at a thirty-year low,” Jeffries posted on social platform X. “Donald Trump has no basis to take over the local police department. And zero credibility on the issue of law and order.
“Get lost.”
Jeffries, a frequent critic of the president, was alluding to Trump’s own legal track record, which includes two impeachments, his conviction last year on 34 felony counts related to hush money payments to a porn star, and his decision to pardon more than 1,500 people who stormed the U.S. Capitol on Jan. 6, 2021, in a failed effort to overturn the 2020 election.
Trump has been a long-time critic of the D.C. government, in general, and its law enforcement system, in particular, accusing local officials of negligence that he says led to a spike in crime during the COVID-19 pandemic. On Monday, he took that criticism a long step forward by announcing that his administration will assume control of the D.C. Police Department and send in 800 National Guard troops to patrol the city’s streets.
“Our capital city has been overtaken by violent gangs and bloodthirsty criminals, roving mobs of wild youth, drugged-out maniacs and homeless people, and we’re not going to let it happen anymore,” Trump said. “We’re not going to take it.”
Trump’s assessment of crime in D.C. collides directly with the official numbers from the Justice Department, which found that violent crime in the nation’s capital is at its lowest rate in more than three decades.
Jeffries was not the only lawmaker to take note of that contrast Monday. A number of Democrats on and off of Capitol Hill hammered Trump’s move as more fitting of an authoritarian regime that seizes power unilaterally to hobble political rivals and silence critics.
“Trump’s raw authoritarian power grab in DC is part of a growing national crisis. He’s playing dictator in our nation’s capital as a dress rehearsal as he pushes democracy to the brink,” Sen. Chris Van Hollen (D-Md.) wrote on his X account.
“This assault on freedom is exactly why we’ve fought for DC statehood & to give DC control of its National Guard.”
Copyright 2025 Nexstar Media, Inc. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.
For the latest news, weather, sports, and streaming video, head to The Hill.
Comments