President has threatened to put the district under federal control after a mob brutally beat a former DOGE staffer on Sunday in attempted carjacking
The Trump administration on Thursday evening ordered federal law enforcement officers to patrol Washington, D.C., with White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt saying “there will be no safe harbor for violent criminals” in the nation’s capital.
The deployment began Friday at midnight and will last at least seven days, according to White House statements. Federal law enforcement will be present at “high traffic tourist areas and other known hotspots,” with officers “identified, in marked units, and highly visible,” according to a White House statement shared with the New York Times.
🚨 BREAKING: Order is being RESTORED in Washington, D.C.
“You can expect to see federal officers in marked units patrolling high traffic tourist areas and other ‘hotspots’…It’s supposed to start each night at midnight.”
GOOD.pic.twitter.com/yWZLD9lSK3
— Townhall.com (@townhallcom) August 8, 2025
“Washington, DC is an amazing city, but it has been plagued by violent crime for far too long,” Leavitt said in a statement shared with Politico. “President Trump has directed an increased presence of federal law enforcement to protect innocent citizens. Starting tonight, there will be no safe harbor for violent criminals in D.C.”
Trump on Tuesday threatened to put D.C. under federal control, as the Constitution permits, after a mob of young assailants on Sunday brutally beat up a former Department of Government Efficiency employee during an attempted hijacking.
“Crime in Washington, D.C., is totally out of control,” Trump wrote on Truth Social, warning that “if D.C. doesn’t get its act together, and quickly, we will have no choice but to take Federal control of the City.”
While crime in the district has fallen since last year, when the city council reversed its stance on criminal justice reform and passed a tough-on-crime bill, the district has long struggled with violent crime, including homicides, robberies, and carjackings. Before Mayor Muriel Bowser (D.) signed the bill in March 2024, the district was seeing sharp crime spikes, with homicides up 35 percent, robberies up 67 percent, and carjackings up 82 percent in 2023.
Trump in his Truth Social post pointed to crime committed by young people, writing, “Local ‘youths’ and gang members, some only 14, 15, and 16-years-old, are randomly attacking, mugging, maiming, and shooting innocent Citizens, at the same time knowing that they will be almost immediately released.”
Juvenile arrests in the district have increased since last year, NBC4 reported.
This isn’t the first time Trump has warned D.C. officials that he would put the district under federal control. In February, Trump said the federal government should “take over the governance” of the nation’s capital, arguing that local leaders are not doing enough to address crime and homelessness.
Bowser, meanwhile, has signaled a growing willingness to work with Trump’s second administration.
In May, the mayor quietly proposed to repeal the law barring local police from assisting ICE, having already removed a statement from her office’s website that reaffirms D.C.’s status as a sanctuary city. Bowser’s administration has also cleared a homeless encampment following Trump’s call for a citywide cleanup and paint over the Black Lives Matter Plaza ahead of the nation’s 250th anniversary next year.
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