Updated @ 2:24 PM EDT on August 10, 2025
In reaction to President Trump’s threats to seize federal authority of the nation’s capital, Washington, D.C. Mayor Muriel Bowser spoke out on Sunday. In response to White House allegations of unchecked violence, Bowser defended the District’s authority over its police force, voiced concerns about the D.C. National Guard’s deployment, and cited a two-year decline in violent crime.
Following the assault of a former White House staffer during an attempted carjacking last week, Trump ordered federal law enforcement agencies, including the U.S. Marshals Service, the Federal Bureau of Investigation, the Drug Enforcement Administration, and the U.S. Park Police, among others, to bolster their presence in D.C. Nearly 450 federal agents were stationed in the District on Saturday night, according to a White House official who was not permitted to discuss the situation in public.
With a plan to be revealed at 10 a.m. on Monday, the president pledged in a social media post on Sunday to “make our Capital safer” by evicting the homeless and imprisoning criminals.
“I suspect that his announcement is that he is surging federal law enforcement, which he’s talked about,” Bowser stated in her first MSNBC interview since Trump’s warnings of a federal takeover. “He may talk about even larger numbers or longer periods of time.”
Bowser stated that she will keep collaborating with the president on their “shared priorities” of creating a secure and beautiful city in Washington, D.C. However, the mayor stated that more federal judges and prosecutors, as well as building and park renovations, are what the city truly needs.
She criticized White House Deputy Chief of Staff Stephen Miller’s recent remarks that the country’s capital was “more violent than Baghdad.”
“Any comparison to a war-torn country is hyperbolic and false,” Bowser stated.
Although the mayor acknowledged that there was a spike in crime in 2023, he claimed that there had been a sharp decline in violence during the previous two years. According to district crime figures, violent crime has decreased by 26% from the previous year.
“We’re going to keep talking to the president, working with his people on the issues that are high priority for him,” Bowser stated. “Now, we know he can demonstrate force here if that is the top priority in an American city. However, it won’t be due to an increase in criminal activity.
The National Guard informed NPR on Sunday that it has not yet been activated, despite Trump’s threats to send troops to D.C. Bowser stated that she opposes their deployment.
“They’re not law enforcement officials,” Bowser declared. I’m worried about that, then. Additionally, I don’t believe that’s the best way to employ our guard.”
Trump used the National Guard in D.C. during the George Floyd murder demonstrations in 2020. Additionally, Trump dispatched troops to Los Angeles two months ago in response to protests against his increased immigration enforcement.
The president has also indicated to reporters on Wednesday that he has considered taking over the Metropolitan Police Department, saying it was a “option on the table.” Bowser, however, disputed that this was a plausible scenario.
“There are very specific things in our law that would allow the president to have more control over our police department,” Bowser stated. “None of those conditions exist in our city right now.”
According to city law, the president may assume command of the D.C. police force in the event that “special conditions of an emergency nature exist which require the use of the Metropolitan Police force for Federal purposes.”
In the Navy Yard neighborhood, which is home to Nationals Park and is located just south of Capitol Hill, D.C. Police Chief Pamela Smith imposed a juvenile curfew on Sunday.Smith stated in the decision that residents’ late-night parties present “a risk of substantial harm to public safety.”
D.C. police will not allow nine or more minors to congregate in the specified area between 8 and 11 p.m., as mandated by a recently passed law. The curfew is in effect from Sunday night until Wednesday.
Through August 31, a juvenile curfew is in effect for the whole city of D.C. from 11 p.m. to 6 a.m.
Trump said in a different post on Sunday that Bowser “is a good person who has tried, but she has been given many chances, and the Crime Numbers get worse, and the City only gets dirtier and less attractive.”
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