As the nation prepares for a second Donald Trump presidency, residents and leaders in the District are particularly on edge given Trump's campaign-trail comments about taking control of D.C.
The chair of the D.C. Republican party shared his take on what the District should expect starting in January, saying that — while he doesn't foresee a complete federal takeover of D.C. — he would not be surprised by Trump taking control of the Metropolitan Police Department.
Patrick Mara has been in local D.C. politics for going on 20 years. A former elected school board member, he's is now the chair of the D.C. Republican party and is in close touch with congressional Republicans and the Trump team.
"All these District residents who are concerned with President Trump, they survived the first four years, and they're just gonna do fine, and they're gonna thrive economically in the next four years," Mara said.
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Trump made threats on the campaign trail to take over the D.C. government. His comments included this one: "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 also said: "We have a capital that we all love. Right now it's a rat-infested, graffiti-infested, 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."
When asked about comments like those, Mara told News4, "These people have no interest in taking over D.C. because there's a realization that for Congress or even the federal government to run D.C., there are a whole bunch of issues that come with that. And when it comes time to finally have some sort of a focus on D.C., I think what will happen is the administration will recognize, if they haven't already, that we need to focus on getting our legislative agenda through."
While Mara downplayed the possibility of a complete federal takeover of the District, when asked if the Trump administration might federalize the D.C. police department, Mara was quick to say that’s a real possibility.
"Public safety is issue number one with members of Congress when it comes to the District of Columbia," he said. "And obviously, that's the case on the Senate side as well."
Mara pointed to the carjacking and killing of Michael Gill in January as an example of crime that hit close to home.
D.C. police have said Gill, a married father of three, was waiting to pick up his wife near Mount Vernon Square on the evening of Jan. 29 when he became the first victim of random acts of violence committed by 28-year-old Artell Cunningham during what would become an 11-hour crime spree. Cunningham was ultimately shot and killed by police.
"Our former chief counsel and Republican appointee to the Board of Elections, Mike Gill, was killed in a carjacking incident," Mara said. "And so public safety is something that's near and dear to Republicans in D.C. And it's something that again, members of Congress, that's one of the only things that these folks have been mentioning when they go down to talk with President Trump in Mar-a-Lago."
"I could see increased — a federalization of the police, possibly," Mara said. "Look, I wouldn't know at this point if he would completely federalize MPD."
Mara also spoke of concerns some have about racial tensions.
"Fundamentally, the Republican party was founded on freeing slaves and supporting abolitionists," he said. "Frederick Douglass was a precinct captain here. This just is not something to be concerned with."
