Donald Trump has invoked section 740 of the District of Columbia Home Rule Act to place the city’s Metropolitan Police Department under federal control, ordering the deployment of the national guard and describing Washington DC as “lawless” despite official figures showing crime at historic lows.
Speaking on Monday, the US president vowed to allow officers to “do whatever the hell they want” in the face of what he called provocations. “That’s the only language they understand,” he said. “They like to spit in the face of the police. You spit, and we hit, and they get hit real hard.”
Defence secretary Pete Hegseth confirmed that national guard units would patrol the streets in the coming week, pledging they would be “strong, tough and standing with their law enforcement partners”.
Under Section 740, Mayor Muriel Bowser must provide the Metropolitan Police’s services as the president deems necessary when “special conditions” arise. Presidential control under this provision lasts for 30 days unless extended by Congress.
The move comes after Edward Coristine, a 19-year-old former General Services Administration staffer on a government efficiency team, was reportedly attacked near his car last week. Following the incident, Trump began discussing a return to federal control of the capital’s policing and the deployment of the National Guard to tackle street crime.
However, Metropolitan Police statistics show violent crime in DC has plummeted since 2023, reaching a 30 year low on the day Trump took office. This year, it has fallen a further 26%, mirroring sharp declines in major cities nationwide.
Despite this, Trump ordered a weekend surge of federal law enforcement, with around 450 officers from agencies including the US Capitol Police, the Federal Protective Service, and the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives stationed across the city.
At a press conference, Trump described Washington as “overtaken by violent gangs and bloodthirsty criminals, roving mobs of wild youth, drugged-out maniacs and homeless people”. On Sunday, he posted on Truth Social demanding homeless residents “move out immediately”, sharing photographs of encampments apparently taken from his motorcade.
“We will give you places to stay, but far from the capital,” he wrote.
The post follows an executive order issued on 24 July ending federal support for “Housing First” policies, which do not require sobriety or mental health compliance as conditions for housing. The order also urged local authorities to dismantle encampments and enforce bans on “urban camping”, “loitering” and “urban squatting”.
Homelessness in Washington DC has also been falling, according to the latest official counts.
