The FBI has begun deploying approximately 120 agents on overnight shifts to assist local law enforcement in combating carjackings and other violent crime in Washington, D.C., according to The Washington Post. The move comes as President Donald Trump has threatened a federal takeover of the city, despite data showing violent crime has fallen sharply.
Trump was reportedly outraged after a young administration staffer was assaulted in an attempted carjacking. On Saturday, he announced a Monday press conference to end violent crime in the capital. On Sunday, he took to Truth Social, calling on the city's homeless to “clear out” immediately and comparing his crime-fighting efforts to his work restricting illegal immigration at the southern border.
The FBI agents, drawn from counterintelligence, public corruption, and other units, are now set to take part in traffic stops—duties for which they lack proper training, The Post noted. The paper found that the diversion has caused frustration within the FBI, as agents usually lack authority to conduct traffic stops. Most of the 120 agents come from the Washington Field Office.
Anonymous senior officials in the D.C. police department told The Post that the Trump administration has not consulted them on how to deploy these additional resources. As D.C. is not a state, federal authorities can exert more control over the city, even as residents and local leaders protest. A federal takeover of the police department would be an unusual use of power.
On Sunday, the FBI told The Post that “Agents from the FBI Washington Field Office continue to participate in the increased federal law enforcement presence in D.C., which includes assisting our law enforcement partners.” Trump later criticised Mayor Muriel Bowser on Truth Social, claiming crime numbers are worsening and the city is becoming dirtier.
Bowser, appearing on MSNBC, denied a crime spike, stating that violent crime has been driven down to a 30-year low. D.C. police reported violent crime in the first seven months of this year was down 26 percent compared with 2024, and overall crime down roughly seven percent. “If the priority is to show force in an American city, we know he can do that here,” Bowser said. “But it won’t be because there’s a spike in crime.”
