President Trump said he will reveal plans Monday to rein in crime and disorder in the District of Columbia, just days after he floated a federal takeover of the nation’s capital and deployed agents throughout the city to help local police crack down on lawlessness.
He said his administration would “make our Capital safer and more beautiful than it ever was before.”
“The Homeless have to move out, immediately. 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,” Mr. Trump wrote Sunday on Truth Social. “It’s all going to happen very fast, just like the Border. We went from millions pouring in, to zero in the last few months. This will be easier — Be prepared! There will be no ‘Mr. Nice Guy.’ We want our Capital back.”
Over the weekend, Mr. Trump called the nation’s capital one of the most dangerous cities in the world and said his administration would offer solutions to “stop violent crime.”
Sen. Mike Lee, Utah Republican, shared the president’s interest in a federal takeover of the District after resharing a video of a shooting Saturday night in the Navy Yard neighborhood.
“Shots fired as lawlessness erupts in DC’s Navy Yard neighborhood tonight — just blocks from the Capitol,” Mr. Lee posted Sunday on X. “The federal takeover in DC can’t come soon enough. DC Home Rule must end now.”
Earlier this year, Mr. Lee introduced the Bringing Oversight to Washington and Safety to Every Resident (BOWSER) Act, a direct attack on Mayor Muriel Bowser, the city’s Democratic executive for the past 10 years.
The bill calls for the end of the 52-year-old federal Home Rule law, which allows D.C. residents to elect a mayor and city council to handle local matters.
In a follow-up post Sunday, Mr. Trump said Ms. 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. … I will take care of our cherished Capital, and we will make it, truly, great again,” Mr. Trump wrote on Truth Social. “Before the tents, squalor, filth, and Crime, it was the most beautiful Capital in the World. It will soon be that again.”
Ms. Bowser spoke publicly for the first time Sunday about Mr. Trump’s intentions for the District.
“I suspect that his announcement is that he is surging federal law enforcement, which he’s talked about, and he may talk about even larger numbers or longer periods of time,” Ms. Bowser told MSNBC.
“He’s interested in being in neighborhoods and fighting crime in neighborhoods, and to the extent that officers know our laws, that officers work in community and work with prosecutors to build good cases and establish a presence and work with local officials who are, you know, the expert in policing and making arrests, that’s what we’re waiting to see,” she said.
Ms. Bowser said she has had several conversations with Mr. Trump about crime in the District, including in their first conversation after he was elected.
She said the Metropolitan Police Department supported the president’s efforts to address major offenses but countered his framing of the District as crime-ridden. D.C. records show that crime overall is down significantly this year.
“It is true that we had a terrible spike in crime in 2023, but this is not 2023, this is 2025, and we’ve done that by working with the community, working with the police, working with our prosecutors and, in fact, working with the federal government,” Ms. Bowser said.
Police data shows violent crime is down 26% year-over-year, with sizable declines in the shootings, carjackings and muggings that brought about the generational surge in violence in 2023.
Still, the District has had a shocking series of assaults and attacks on high-profile targets, including NFL players, members of the Trump Cabinet, and Capitol Hill lawmakers and their staffers.
Mr. Trump refocused his attention on D.C. crime after an attempted carjacking this month of a former Department of Government Efficiency employee known as “Big Balls.”
Metropolitan Police said Edward Coristine was jumped by several youths who approached him and a significant other near Logan Circle around 3 a.m.
Authorities said Mr. Coristine pushed the woman into the car for her safety and then turned to confront the group, which began assaulting him.
Two 15-year-olds from Hyattsville, Maryland, were arrested on charges of unarmed carjacking in connection with the attack. Police are looking for a third person of interest.
Mr. Trump said he would “take federal control of the city and run this city how it should be run.”
During a later press conference, he said the next steps could involve repealing the District’s Home Rule Act and deploying the National Guard.
The White House last week sent federal agents from the FBI, Secret Service and U.S. Marshals to target street criminals throughout the District.
The administration said a Thursday night federal patrol included arrests in connection with stolen guns, fentanyl and marijuana.
Mr. Trump suggested lowering the age at which juveniles could be charged as adults, which is currently 16.
U.S. Attorney Jeanine Pirro, the District’s top prosecutor, said last week that putting some teens behind bars was necessary because of their criminal behavior.
“I don’t know if you’ve seen some of the pictures, but young people are coddled. They don’t need to be coddled. They need to be held accountable. They shouldn’t be going to arts and crafts daily,” Ms. Pirro said.
On Sunday, Metropolitan Police announced a juvenile curfew zone for the Navy Yard neighborhood to start the week. The 8 p.m. curfew Sunday through Wednesday was imposed after police dispersed large groups of teens from the area Saturday night.
