Trump places Washington DC police under federal control and deploys National Guard
The president says that he’s announcing an “historic action” to “take the capital back”.
He’s invoking section 740, of the District of Columbia Home Rule Act, that places the DC Metropolitan police department under direct federal control.
He adds that he’s deploying the national guard to help “re-establish law and order”.
Key events
David Smith
In his press conference, where reporters are squeezed into both aisles, Donald Trump continued: “I don’t like being up here talking about how unsafe and how dirty and disgusting this once beautiful Capital was.”
He continued: “We’re declaring a public safety emergency in the District of Columbia and attorney general Pam Bondi is taking command of the Metropolitan police Department as of this moment.
“They’ll immediately begin massive enforcement operations targeting known gangs, drug dealers and criminal networks to get them the hell off the street.”
Pete Hegseth, the defence secretary, walked to the lectern and told reporters: “This morning, we’ve mobilised the DC National Guard… You will see them flowing into the streets of Washington in the coming week.”
Kash Patel, the director of the FBI added: “We’re going to clean up Washington DC. We’re going to do it the right way, the lawful way. We’ll make sure Washington DC is safe again.”
DC attorney general Jeanine Piro – who was only confirmed to her role on 2 August – says that she sees “too much violent crime being committed by young punks who think that they can get together in gangs and crews and beat the hell out of you or anyone else.”
Piro expresses her frustration with what she deems as excessive leniency in family court – where juveniles are prosecuted. “I can’t arrest them. I can’t prosecute them,” she says. “They go to family court, and they get to do yoga and arts and crafts. Enough, it changes today.”
Trump: 800 national guardsmen being deployed to Washington DC
Donald Trump is saying that, to begin with, the administration will deploy 800 national guardsmen to support local law enforcement.
He adds that they will add “much more if necessary”.
Trump vows to remove homeless encapments throughout DC
“We’re getting rid of the people from underpasses and public spaces from all over the city,” the president said. “We’re going to help them as much as you can help, but they’ll not be allowed to turn our capital into a wasteland.”
Chris Stein
A block away from the White House, about 200 protesters gathered before his press conference to condemn Donald Trump’s plans to deploy federal law enforcement in Washington DC.
“I’m here this morning to say that nothing Trump is doing right now is about our safety,” said Keya Chatterjee, executive director of Free DC, a group that advocates for the district’s rights.
She criticised the president’s support for cutting Medicaid, firing federal workers and rounding up undocumented immigrants, and argued that his concerns about crime are insincere.
“Trump does not care about DC safety. He cares about control,” she said.
Secretary of defense Pete Hegseth is now speaking about the deployment of the DC National Guard:
We will work alongside all DC police and federal law enforcement to ensure this city is safe. This city is beautiful, and as I always say about President Trump, to the troops, he has their back. And my message to the National Guard and federal law enforcement in Washington is we have your back as well. Be tough. Be strong. We’re right behind you.
Trump declares ‘public safety emergency’ despite record crime low
The president confirms that attorney general Pam Bondi will now oversee the Metropolitan Police Department, as he declares a “public safety emergency”. This, despite violent crime hitting a 30-year-low in 2024, according to the justice department.
The president is saying that DC’s no cash bail policy is “a disaster”.
“We’re going to change the statute and get rid of some of the other things, and we’ll count on the Republicans in Congress and Senate to vote,” Trump vowed. “Cashless bail, watch what we do with that.”
Trump: ‘You spit, we hit’
Donal Trump is now speaking about how the police are treated during apprehensions.
You know, they love to spit in the face of the police as the police are standing up there in uniform. They’re standing and they’re screaming at them an inch away from their face, and then they start spitting in their face. And I said, ‘you tell them you spit, and we hit’, and they get hit real hard.
The president is now vowing to “get rid of the slums” in the nation’s capital. “We have slums here. We’re getting rid of them. I know it’s not politically correct. You’ll say, ‘Oh, so terrible’.”
Donald Trump is now showing a number of charts, and the sources are unclear as of now, that show DC’s crime rate to be worse than a number of cities across the world, including Baghdad, Panama City, Brasília and Bogotá.
The president says:
Our capital city has been overtaken by violent gangs and bloodthirsty criminals roving mobs of wild youth, drugged out maniacs, and homeless people, and we’re not going to let it happen any more.
Trump places Washington DC police under federal control and deploys National Guard
The president says that he’s announcing an “historic action” to “take the capital back”.
He’s invoking section 740, of the District of Columbia Home Rule Act, that places the DC Metropolitan police department under direct federal control.
He adds that he’s deploying the national guard to help “re-establish law and order”.
As we wait for the president to begin his press conference, we’re seeing images and video from local news outlets who report that hundreds of people have gathered in Lafayette Square – which sits just north of the White House – to protest the president’s plans for DC.
Trump begins press conference on ending crime and homelessness in DC
Donald Trump is now addressing the press in the White House briefing room about his plans to tackle crime and homelessness in Washington DC, and make the nation’s capital “safer and more beautiful than it ever was before”.
He’s flanked by attorney general Pam Bondi, defense secretary Pete Hegseth, as well as other members of his cabinet.
The president said that DC would be “LIBERATED today!” in a post on Truth Social.
He’s also expected to discuss plans to deploy the DC National Guard to help local law enforcement, despite a notable drop in violent crime compared to this time last year.
Federal judge rules that Ghislaine Maxwell grand jury transcripts will remain sealed
Today, a federal judge rejected a request from the justice department to unseal the grand jury transcripts relating to the criminal investigation of Ghislaine Maxwell – Jeffrey Epstein’s former girlfriend, who is currently serving a 20-year sentence for sex trafficking.
In his ruling, Judge Paul A Engelmayer of the southern district of New York wrote:
Its entire premise – that the Maxwell grand jury materials would bring to light meaningful new information about Epstein’s and Maxwell’s crimes, or the Government’s investigation into them – is demonstrably false.
In July, Donald Trump directed attorney general Pam Bondi to release any relevant grand jury testimony related to Epstein, and the justice department later filed a motion in federal court in New York to release the transcripts.
Ed Pilkington
Four days after JD Vance reportedly asked top Trump administration officials to come up with a new communications strategy for dealing with the scandal around the late convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein, he appears to have put his foot in it, sparking a new round of online outrage even as he tried to defuse the furor.
In an interview with Fox News broadcast on Sunday, the vice-president tried to deflect criticism of the administration’s refusal to release the Epstein files by blaming Democrats. He accused Joe Biden of doing “absolutely nothing” about the scandal when he was in the White House.
“And now President Trump has demanded full transparency from this. And yet somehow the Democrats are attacking him and not the Biden administration, which did nothing for four years,” he said.
If Vance’s attempt to switch public blame on to Democrats was the big idea to emerge from his strategy meeting with attorney general Pam Bondi and FBI director Kash Patel, which according to CNN he convened at the White House last week, then their labours appear to have backfired. (Vance denied to Fox that they had discussed Epstein at all, though he did acknowledge the meeting took place.)
Within minutes of the Fox News interview being broadcast, social media began to hum with renewed cries of “release the files!”
Read more on the fallout here:
Trump administration to reassign FBI agents to DC night patrol – reports
According to reports from the New York Times and the Washington Post, the Trump administration is planning to reassign FBI agents to assist night patrol duty in DC, and help local law enforcement deal with street crime.
Sources, speaking on the condition of anonymity, told the Times that most of the agents will be pulled from their regular duties at the FBI’s Washington field office.
Federal trial on Trump’s use of National Guard begins today
In court later today, the Trump administration and California governor Gavin Newsom will fight out the president’s use of the National Guard, to quell the protests over the Trump immigration agenda in Los Angeles earlier this year.
Judge Charles Breyer will hear arguments about whether the Trump administration violated a 19th-century law, known as the Posse Comitatus Act, which inhibits the president from using the military as a ‘domestic police force’.
The trial’s outcome could ultimately set a precedent for how the president federalises the National Guard moving forward.
On a related note, Trump has threatened to deploy the National Guard in DC before, and multiple reports this morning state that he is considering the move. A reminder, DC doesn’t have control over its own National Guard, unlike other states. Instead, the troops are under the command of the president.
In her interview with MSNBC on Sunday, Mayor Muriel Bowser was concerned about the possible use of the Guard in DC.
“They’re not law enforcement officials,” she said. “I just think that’s not the most efficient use of our guard.”
