August 11, 2025—In the latest display of executive power, President Donald Trump announced plans to deploy National Guard troops in Washington, D.C., taking over the nation’s capital with military force.
“This is liberation day in D.C., and we’re going to take our Capitol back. We’re taking it back…. I’m officially invoking Section 740 of the District of Columbia Home Rule Act. You know what that is? And placing the D.C. Metropolitan Police Department under direct federal control,” Trump said. “In addition, I’m deploying the National Guard to help reestablish law, order, and public safety.”
The White House declared a “crime emergency” and placed the District under the control of U.S. Attorney General Pam Bondi. The plan involves 800 National Guard troops charged with removing homeless encampments and monitoring public safety in the city.
Crime Rates Are Down
The announcement comes at a time of falling crime rates. Violent crimes in Washington, D.C. have fallen to their lowest level in recent years, to 1.02 incidents per 100,000 residents from a peak of 3.01 in 100,000 in 2023, the Washington Post reported using Metropolitan Police data. That includes reports of homicide, robbery, sex abuse, and aggravated assault. Year on year, crime in Washington is down 7 percent from 2024, with violent crime falling by 26 percent, according to the MPDC data. Last week, Trump started talking about federal control of the District after a federal DOGE worker named Edward Coristine was injured in an attempted carjacking by two teenagers. Trump cast the “Democratic-led capital as a place ruined by liberal policies,” the Washington Post reported.
Mayor Responds
D.C. Mayor Muriel Bowser said she isn’t “totally surprised” given previous rhetoric, but added that she doesn’t believe in using the U.S. military against American citizens on U.S. soil. She called the planned federal takeover “unsettling and unprecedented.” The District is reportedly examining legal options. The mayor also pushed for statehood for the District in a press conference.
“We also know that we are not experiencing a spike in crime but a decrease in crime,” Bowser said.
Part of Trump’s Playbook
Use of the National Guard is mentioned in Project 2025—a draconian playbook for Trump’s second term published by the Heritage Foundation. (See Endnote #23 in the chapter on Defense on page 129.)
Trump previously deployed National Guard forces in his first term to the U.S.-Mexico border as well as areas such as Kenosha, Wisconsin impacted by 2020 protests against violence by police officers. In June 2025, Trump deployed National Guard forces to California to support aggressive enforcement by Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) and protests against them. California Governor Gavin Newsom is challenging that deployment in court.
