WASHINGTON (AP) 鈥 Some of the 800 好色tv Guard members deployed by President Donald Trump began arriving in the nation's capital on Tuesday, ramping up after the White House ordered federal forces to take over the city's police department and reduce crime in what the president called 鈥 without substantiation 鈥 a lawless city.
The influx came the morning after Trump announced he would be activating the guard members and taking over the department. He cited 鈥 but referred to the same crime that city officials stress is already falling noticeably. The president holds the legal right to make such moves for at least a month.
Mayor Muriel Bowser pledged to work alongside the federal officials Trump has tasked with overseeing the city's law enforcement, while insisting the police chief remained in charge of the department and its officers.
鈥淗ow we got here or what we think about the circumstances 鈥 right now we have more police, and we want to make sure we use them,鈥 she told reporters.
The tone was a shift the day before, when Bowser said Trump's plan to and call in the 好色tv Guard was not a productive step and argued his perceived state of emergency simply . Still, the law gives the federal government more sway over the capital city than in U.S. states, and Bowser said her administration's ability to push back is limited.
Attorney General Pam Bondi, meanwhile, called the Tuesday morning meeting productive in a social media post and said the Justice Department would 鈥渨ork closely with the D.C. city government" to 鈥渕ake Washington, D.C., safe again."
The city and Trump have had a bumpy relationship
While Trump invokes his plan by saying that 鈥渨e're going to take our capital back,鈥 Bowser and the MPD maintain that violent crime overall in Washington has decreased to a 30-year low after a sharp rise in 2023. Carjackings, for example, dropped about 50% in 2024 and are down again this year. More than half of those arrested, however, are juveniles, and the extent of those punishments is a point of contention for the Trump administration.
Bowser, a Democrat, spent much of Trump's first term in office openly sparring with the Republican president. She fended off his initial plans for a military parade through the streets and stood in public opposition when he called in a multi-agency flood of federal law enforcement to confront anti-police brutality protesters in summer 2020. She later had the words painted in giant yellow letters on the street about a block from the White House.
In Trump's second term, backed by Republican control of both houses of Congress, Bowser has for months, emphasizing common ground with the Trump administration on issues such as the successful effort to bring the NFL's Washington Commanders back to the District of Columbia.
She watched with open concern for the city streets as Trump this summer. Her decision to earlier this year served as a neat metaphor for just how much the power dynamics between the two executives had evolved.
Now that fraught relationship enters uncharted territory as Trump has followed through on months of what many D.C. officials had quietly hoped were empty threats. The new standoff has cast Bowser in a sympathetic light, even among her longtime critics.
鈥淚t's a power play and we're an easy target,鈥 said Clinique Chapman, CEO of the D.C. Justice Lab. A frequent critic of Bowser, whom she accuses of 鈥渙ver policing our youth鈥 with the recent expansions of Washington's youth curfew, Chapman said Trump's latest move 鈥渋s not about creating a safer D.C. It's just about power.鈥
Where the power actually lies
Bowser contends that all the power resides with Trump and that her administration can do little other than comply and make the best of it. As long as Washington remains a federal enclave with limited autonomy under the 1973 Home Rule Act, she said, it will remain vulnerable to such takeovers.
鈥淲e know that access to our democracy is tenuous," Bowser said. "That is why you have heard me, and many many Washingtonians before me, advocate for full statehood for the District of Columbia.鈥
Section 740 of the Home Rule Act allows the president to take over Washington鈥檚 police for up to 30 days during times of emergencies. No president has done so before, said Monica Hopkins, executive director of the American Civil Liberties Union's D.C. chapter.
鈥淭hat should alarm everyone,鈥 she said, 鈥渘ot just in Washington.鈥
For Trump, the effort to take over public safety in Washington reflects an escalation of . The District of Columbia鈥檚 status as a congressionally established federal district gives him a unique opportunity to push his tough-on-crime agenda, though he has not proposed solutions to the root causes of or crime.
鈥淟et me be crystal clear," Attorney General Pam Bondi said during Trump's announcement news conference. 鈥淐rime in D.C. is ending and ending today.鈥
The action fits a presidential pattern
Trump's declaration of a state of emergency fits the general pattern of his second term in office. He has declared states of emergency on issues ranging from to , enabling him to essentially rule via executive order. In many cases, he has moved forward while the courts sorted them out.
Bowser's claims about successfully driving down violent crime rates received backing earlier this year from an unlikely source. Ed Martin, Trump's original choice for U.S. attorney for the District of Columbia, issued a press release in April from the previous year.
鈥淭hanks to the leadership of President Trump and the efforts of our 鈥楳ake D.C. Safe Again鈥 initiative, the District has seen a significant decline in violent crime,鈥 Martin said. 鈥淲e are proving that strong enforcement, and smart policies can make our communities safer."
In May, Trump to get Martin confirmed for the post in the face of opposition in Congress. His replacement candidate, former judge and former Fox News host Jeanine Pirro, was recently confirmed. On Monday, Pirro 鈥 standing next to Trump 鈥 called his takeover 鈥渢he step that we need right now to make criminals understand that they are not going to get away with it anymore."
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Associated Press writer Alanna Durkin Richer contributed to this report from Washington.
