WASHINGTON—President Donald Trump said Monday he’s placing the Washington, D.C., police department under federal control and deploying the National Guard to make the nation’s capital safer.
Trump said at a Monday news briefing that he was “deploying the National Guard to help reestablish law order and public safety in Washington, D.C., and they’re going to be allowed to do their job properly.” He said Attorney General Pam Bondi is taking over the DC police.
The president compared crime in the American capital with that in other major cities, saying Washington performs poorly on safety relative to the capitals of Iraq, Brazil, and Colombia, among others.
“We're getting rid of the slums, too,” Trump said, adding that the U.S. would not lose its cities and that Washington was just a start.
Trump complained about potholes and graffiti in the city and said it was “embarrassing.”
“This is a tragic emergency. And it’s embarrassing for me to be up here,” Trump said. “I don’t like being up here talking about how unsafe and how dirty and disgusting this once beautiful capital was, with graffiti all over the walls.”
Trump also said he would bring in the military if needed.
“This is not a big area,” Trump said. “What you need is rules and regulations, and you need the right people to implement them.”
Ahead of a news conference, Trump said Monday on social media that the nation’s capital would be “LIBERATED today!” He said he would end the “days of ruthlessly killing, or hurting, innocent people.”
Trump said last week that he was considering ways for the federal government to seize control of Washington, asserting that crime was “ridiculous” and the city was “unsafe,” after the recent assault of a high-profile member of the Department of Government Efficiency.