Trump officially moves D.C. under federal authority to clean up crime
In a move the president described as ‘Liberation Day,’ he invoked Section 740 of the District of Columbia Home Rule Act, placing the region under federal control
by Summer Lane | August 11, 2025
President Donald Trump on Monday placed the District of Columbia under federal authority, aiming to restore law and order and make the city streets safe again.
“This is Liberation Day in D.C. and we’re going to take our capital back,” he said during a special press conference held in a packed-out briefing room.
The president invoked Section 740 of the District of Columbia Home Rule Act, placing the D.C. Metropolitan Police Department under federal control.
He also announced the deployment of National Guard troops to “help re-establish law and order and public safety in Washington, D.C., and they’re going to be allowed to do their job properly.”
During his remarks, Trump was flanked by key members of his cabinet, including Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth, U.S. Attorney General Pam Bondi, and FBI Director Kash Patel.
Trump delivered a rapid-fire list of crime statistics in D.C., explaining that the “murder rate in Washington today is higher than that of Bogota, Colombia…the number of car thefts has doubled over the past five years, and the number of carjackings has more than tripled.”
To rein in D.C., Trump declared a public safety emergency and announced that AG Bondi has taken control of the Metropolitan Police Department.
“They’ll immediately begin massive enforcement operations targeting known gangs, drug dealers, and criminal networks to get them the hell off the street, maybe get them out of the country, because a lot of them came into the country illegally…they won’t be here long, but some of these people, a lot of them, are homegrown criminals,” Trump continued.
AG Bondi accepted the challenge of overseeing D.C. crime clean-up operations, remarking, “Let me be crystal clear: crime in D.C. is ending and ending today. We are going to use every power we have to fight criminals here.”
Secretary Hegseth also spoke briefly about the mobilization of the National Guard into D.C., noting that Americans would soon seem them “flowing into the streets of Washington in the coming week.”
“Other National Guard units, other specialized units, they will be strong, they will be tough, and they will stand with their law enforcement partners,” Hegseth said. “This is nothing new for DOD.”
One key objective of this federal takeover is to clean up homeless encampments throughout the city. Trump said his administration would do what it could to help these individuals, but they would not be allowed to “turn our capital into a wasteland for the world to see.”
President Trump signed two executive actions in the Oval Office preceding Monday’s press conference. The first declared a crime emergency in D.C., and the second mobilized the National Guard.
