For the first time since President-elect Donald Trump’s victory, D.C.'s mayor spoke publicly about what a second Trump administration could mean for the District.
Bowser addressed concerns Tuesday that Trump could make good on his campaign trail promises to take control of the District.
"We will always do a fight for what's in the best interest of Washington. I've worked with three presidents, including President-elect Trump, and congressional leaders of both parties to advance the priorities of the District," Bowser told reporters.
Trump has been mostly silent about D.C. since winning the election. But he threatened to take over the nation's capital during his campaign.
"We will take over the horribly run capital of our nation in Washington, D.C., and clean it up, renovate it and rebuild our capital city so there is no longer a nightmare of murder and crime," Trump said while in Florida over the summer. "But, rather, it will become the most beautiful capital anywhere in the world. Right now, if you leave Florida – let's go, darling. Let's look at the Jefferson Memorial, let's look at the Washington Monument. Let's go and look at some of the beautiful scenes, and you end up getting shot, mugged, raped."
During a separate campaign stop, Trump said: "And we're going to take it away from the mayor. And, again, that doesn't make me popular there, but I have to say it."
"We have been discussing and planning for many months in the case that the District has to defend itself," Bowser said Tuesday.
The most likely scenario, according to Republican insiders, is that Trump would take control of public safety in D.C. and possibly federalize the Metropolitan Police Department.
"When we know about threats to our police department, and in a very volatile time those threats were made. But not executed. So, what I think is important for all D.C. residents to recognize -- we're not in a new place. We've been in this place before and what we have done is we followed the law and we defended ourselves. And that would be our approach in any further occurrence," Bowser said.
"It certainly is my job as mayor to plan and think about the worst-case scenarios," she said.
Trump's threats of mass deportations of immigrants living in the country illegally is another concern for D.C. leaders.
"We don’t know what it’s going to look like. ... I think we should to expect ... we don't know where it's going to start, I'm not sure it matters where it starts, but people who are not documented, I think, are vulnerable," Bowser said.
When asked, Bowser did not rule out the possiblity of going to court to try to block any federal takeovers of D.C. agencies. If that happens, D.C.'s attorney general would represent the city in court.
Bowser said that she’s reached out to Trump’s team to set up a meeting but hasn’t heard back.
Bowser said she and the President-elect could have some common ground on revitalizing the local economy and downtown D.C. She mentioned bringing the federal workforce back to work in person and making better use of federal buildings and parkland, including RFK Stadium.
However, Trump’s promises to move thousands of government jobs and "dismantle Government Bureaucracy" could challenge the local economy, particularly the Black middle class.
