Washington, D.C. President Donald Trump said that Liberation Day has arrived in Washington, D.C., on Monday.
In an attempt to reduce crime, the president proclaimed a crime emergency in the district and announced that the National Guard will soon begin street patrols.
Trump claimed that there is bloodshed, crime, chaos, degradation, and worse in the area.
The president declared, “We are going to retake our capital on this Liberation Day in D.C.” Under the powers granted to me as President of the United States, we are reclaiming it. Section 740 of the District of Columbia Rule Act is being formally invoked by me.
Alongside U.S. Attorney General Pam Bondi, Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth, FBI Director Kash Patel, Interior Secretary Doug Burgum, Secretary of the Army Daniel Driscoll, and U.S. Attorney of the District of Columbia Jeanine Pirro, the president declared that he is using the D.C. Home Rule Act to assume federal control of the Metropolitan Police Department while deploying the National Guard, and he threatened to call in additional military forces to help.
Citing uncontrollable violence in the nation’s capital, Trump appointed Bondi to assume operational command of the Metropolitan Police as part of an executive order.
The president cited a number of violent incidents, such as the shooting death of Mike Gill, a former staffer in the Trump administration, who was slain in 2024 during a carjacking spree in D.C.
A information sheet comparing the district’s 2024 murder rate per 100,000 to that of other countries’ capitals was presented by the White House as part of the news briefing. America took the lead, almost doubling Bogota, Columbia, which came in second, followed by Mexico City, Mexico, and Islamabad, Pakistan.
Trump and Pirro emphasized the district’s problem with juvenile criminality.
According to the president, crimes against people and juvenile criminals are becoming worse.
Pirro warned reporters that there would be no more adolescent girls killing a disabled man.
According to the president and Pirro, teenage offenders frequently get little punishment, implying that the laws in place are overly forgiving of them.
“I can only take the case if it’s murder or rape if they’re under eighteen,” Pirro stated. I can’t understand it even if they shoot you but don’t kill you. Therefore, the law needs to be modified.
Trump said he will deploy the 800 D.C. National Guard and that Hegseth is ready to deploy additional National Guard battalions if needed.
The announcement from the president coincides with efforts by certain Republicans to overturn the Home Rule Act.
The measure was introduced in February by U.S. Senator Mike Lee, a Republican from Utah, and Representative Andy Ogles, a Republican from Tennessee. They stated that the mayor and City Council had failed to stop violent crime, corruption, and noncitizen voting.
The pair linked Democratic Mayor Muriel Bowser to the legislation’s title. The BOWSER Act is an acronym for the Bringing Oversight to Washington and Safety to Every Resident Act.
Congress passed the District of Columbia Home Rule Act of 1973, and voters in D.C. approved it. The statute allowed the district’s citizens to elect local officials, such as mayors and council members, and granted them some degree of authority over local matters.
Critics cite data indicating an improvement in crime as justification for the president’s decision to federalize the district’s police force and send in the National Guard.
Crime is declining, according to the Metropolitan Police Department. The government reports that while property crimes decreased 11% between 2023 and 2024, violent crime decreased 35% during same time. Between 2023 and 2024, the district’s overall crime rate decreased by 15%.
He recognized that there are several police with some jurisdiction in the area, including over three dozen federal law enforcement agencies, even though the president’s presence in the city is growing.
Bowser responded to the president’s declaration shortly after Trump’s press conference.
She emphasized that she has no authority over the D.C. National Guard and acknowledged the district’s limited autonomy under the Home Rule Act.
Bowser defended the district, stating that she thinks the president’s first-term experience with the COVID-19 pandemic has influenced his perception of D.C.
Echoing crime data that indicate crime is on the decline, she noted that there was an increase in crime following COVID-19.
Bowser told reporters, “We know that access to democracy is tenuous. That’s my message to the residents.” For this reason, you have heard myself and countless other Washingtonians before me call for the District of Columbia to become a full state. We are citizens of the United States. We send our families to battle. We fulfill the obligations of citizenship and pay taxes. Even if this conduct is disturbing and unprecedented, I can’t say that we’re completely shocked considering some of the comments from the past.
Overpasses in northern Virginia have signs that read “keep D.C. free” in an apparent protest of the president’s most recent action.
The president also stated that his administration will increase efforts to beautify the district, including infrastructure renovations, and crack down on homelessness in addition to combating crime.
