President Donald Trump on Wednesday threw his support behind congressional efforts for a federal takeover of the nation's capital, saying he approves putting the District of Columbia back under direct federal control.
Speaking to reporters aboard Air Force One, Trump complained about crime and homelessness in the District, saying, “I think we should take over Washington, D.C. — make it safe.” He added, "I think that we should govern District of Columbia.”
Under terms of the city’s Home Rule authority, Congress already vets all D.C. laws and can outright overturn them. Some congressional Republicans have sought to go further, eroding decades of the city’s limited autonomy and putting it back under direct federal control, as it was at its founding.
Trump said he liked D.C. Mayor Muriel Bowser personally but complained about the city's governance.
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Here's Trump's full quote about a federal takeover of DC
“I think that we should govern District of Columbia. It’s so important, the D.C. situation. I think that we should run it strong, run it with law and order, make it absolutely, flawlessly beautiful, and I think we should take over Washington, D.C., make it safe.
People are getting killed. People are being hurt. You have great police department there, but somehow they’re not utilized properly.
We should govern D.C. I think the federal government should take over the governance of D.C. and run it really, really properly.
And I like the mayor. I get along great with the mayor. But they’re not doing the job. Too much crime. Too much graffiti. Too many tents on the lawns – these magnificent lawns, and there’s tents. And, you know, it’s a sad thing.”
Here's what Mayor Muriel Bowser and Del. Eleanor Holmes Norton said
At a news conference Thursday morning, D.C.’s mayor responded to Trump’s threat to take over D.C.
Bowser has been reluctant to pick a fight with the president and acknowledged she has to walk a fine line when dealing with the White House because D.C. is not a state. When the president threatens to take over D.C., the mayor has to tread lightly because she knows he can do it.
“We will brief the president, give him the facts, work with him cooperatively on our shared priorities and areas where he has concerns, so, I’ve made that offer once again to the White House,” Bowser said.
She said she reached out to the White House and awaited a response.
Bowser said she’s the lawfully elected mayor of D.C. and any uncertainty about the District’s future makes residents, policymakers and business owners “very anxious.”
“We want to work on shared priorities with him,” Bowser said about Trump.
Bowser pushed back on the president’s assertion D.C. police and her administration aren’t doing enough to curb crime.
“In particular, on crime, and we’ve had many discussions on crime, we had a historic decrease in crime last year,” she said.
On reducing homelessness, Bowser said D.C. has had year-over-year success in cutting the number of homeless encampments and the number of people living on the street.
News4 asked Bowser if she’s afraid to push back harder.
“As long as we have limited Home Rule, we’re always vulnerable to the whims of the Congress or a president,” she replied.
“I’m not afraid, Mark, but I am strategic, and I will continue to be,” she said to News4’s Mark Segraves.
Bowser called D.C. a "world-class city" in a post on X Wednesday night and listed some of the city's recent successes. She said the city had its lowest violent crime rate in three decades.
Bowser confirmed reports last week that Trump is poised to sign an executive order aimed at public safety and homeless encampments in the District.
Trump could also effectively eliminate home rule without Congress's help by reinstating the Control Board, an entity enacted in 1995 that oversaw the city's affairs.
D.C. Del. Eleanor Holmes Norton called Trump's comments anti-democratic in a statement.
"We have made significant progress in our historic march toward making D.C. the 51st state, and President Trump’s comments, a continuation of the anti-democratic rhetoric from Republicans concerning the District of Columbia, despite their basis in falsehoods, is evidence of that progress,” Norton said. “These types of remarks are attempts to remove what small measure of democracy the more than 700,000 D.C. residents, a majority of whom are Black and Brown, have."
Trump’s comments come as he tests the limits of presidential power. The administration’s efforts to cut federal jobs, eliminate entire government agencies and cancel spending approved by Congress are under review by judges. Earlier Wednesday, Trump said in a social media post, “LONG LIVE THE KING!” after his administration withdrew support for the Manhattan congestion pricing plan put in place by state and city leaders.
How Trump and Congress could take over DC
The president could declare a public safety emergency and federalize the D.C. police department. He tried this in 2020. But without congressional approval, he only has authority to do so on a temporary basis.
The president could reinstate the D.C. Control Board. In 1995, then-President Bill Clinton and a Republican Congress created a control board that ran the city until 2001. During that time, the mayor and D.C. Council had little, if any, authority. Members of the control board were appointed by the president. Reinstating the board would require congressional approval.
Also, the bill in Congress called the BOWSER Act would end Home Rule. It doesn’t say who would run the city. Prior to Home Rule, various systems of presidentially appointed commissioners ran the city.
The DC takeover 2 Republicans in Congress proposed: the BOWSER Act
Legislation proposed by two Republican members of Congress earlier this month would strip the D.C. government of its powers and elected leaders, including the mayor and the D.C. Council.
Sen. Mike Lee, of Utah, and Rep. Andy Ogles, of Tennessee, introduced the Bringing Oversight to Washington and Safety to Every Resident Act, or BOWSER Act. The bill came as Bowser and District residents grapple with a head-spinning number of policy changes and job cuts enacted by the Trump administration.
The BOWSER Act would repeal D.C. home rule in one year.
Lee and Ogles gave a short list of reasons they want to wrest power from D.C. officials:
- Crime in the District, including carjackings and homicides. While D.C. recently saw an increase in homicides for the first time in a while, overall violent crime continues to drop.
- What they called D.C.’s “soft on crime” approach. They referenced the 2022 crime bill overturned by Congress and former President Joe Biden.
- The federal bribery charge against former Councilmember Trayon White, who was just removed from the D.C. Council and awaits trial.
- D.C. allowing noncitizens to vote in local elections. A law is in effect but faced challenges from the Senate parliamentarian and the U.S. House of Representatives.
The legislation says nothing about who would run the city or how a transition would occur; it only would eliminate the current local government.
Lee introduced a bill similar to the BOWSER Act last year and it died in committee. But this time, Republicans have control of both the House and the Senate.
Crime, homelessness and graffiti: What an executive order on DC could do
Trump is expected to sign an executive order affecting life in the District and wresting local control from local officials.
The executive order is expected to:
- increase criminal penalties for some violent crimes
- increase criminal penalties for some smaller, quality-of-life crimes, such as public urination
- order the clearing of homeless encampments
- order the removal of any graffiti from national monuments
"We haven't seen it, and we have had a briefing that I would call at the 30,000-foot level, and I'm not sure if it was complete. So, that's why I have asked to see anything that they would move related to the District,” Bowser previously said. “And they have committed to working through it with us, to telling us what the intent is."
The mayor previously declined to criticize the executive order or provide any specifics about what White House officials told her.
"I am hard pressed to comment on any specifics other than, I know that the president is very focused on beautification issues,” Bowser said.
For now, what could uncertainty over control of DC mean?
Uncertainty in D.C. could have effects including related to the District’s ability to finance big projects, such as the RFK Stadium development project. Banks may be skittish to finance a deal with D.C., not knowing who will be in charge and whether the president could freeze spending.
Trump’s comments may be a negotiating tactic aimed at getting Bowser to take action on crime and homeless encampments, which Bowser seemed open to doing.
