President Donald Trump has invoked a never-before-used provision of the 1973 DC Home Rule Act to federalise the Metropolitan Police Department and place it under the control of his attorney general. He also ordered National Guard troops to patrol the streets, describing the move as necessary to rescue the capital from 'crime, bloodshed, bedlam and squalor'.
Speaking from the White House press briefing room, Trump declared 'Liberation Day in DC' and compared the situation to the country's southern border. He claimed, inaccurately, that crime levels in Washington were at record highs, despite official data showing declines in murder and violent crime over the past two years.
The president cited recent incidents including an assault on a former Department of Government Efficiency staffer, the killing of a House intern by a stray bullet, and the murder of a former official from his first term. He blamed the city's elected leadership for abolishing cash bail, which he said contributed to a 'dire public safety crisis'.
The executive order, valid for 30 days, requires only that the president 'determines that special conditions of an emergency nature exist'. Critics have condemned the move as an unprecedented federal takeover of local law enforcement.
