President Donald Trump announced on Monday that he is taking major steps to address rampant crime in Washington, DC, “officially invoking section 740 of the district of Columbia Home Rule Act” and “placing the DC Metropolitan Police Department under direct federal control,” in addition to activating the National Guard.
Trump made the major declaration during a highly-anticipated press conference on D.C. crime Monday morning, declaring it “Liberation Day” in the nation’s capital.
“This is Liberation Day in D.C., and we’re going to take our capital back. We’re taking it back. Under the authorities vested in me as the President of the United States, 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, and you’ll be meeting the people that will be directly involved with that,” Trump revealed right off the bat.
“Very good people, but they’re tough, and they know what’s happening. They’ve done it before,” Trump said, also announcing that he is deploying the National Guard to “help reestablish law order of public safety in Washington, DC,” assuring that they will be allowed to do their job “properly.”
Trump told reporters packed in the tight White House briefing room that this is not a partisan issue, noting that they have been victims of the crime as well.
“I understand a lot of you tend to be on the liberal side, but … you don’t want to get mugged and raped and shot and killed,” he said.
“You want to be able to leave your apartment or your house where you live and feel safe and go into a store to buy a newspaper or buy something, and you don’t have that now,” he said, noting the murder rate in Washington today is “higher than that of Bogotá, Colombia; Mexico City; some of the places that you hear about as being the worst places on earth.”
“The number of car thefts has doubled over the past five years, and the number of carjackings has more than tripled. Murders in 2023 reached the highest rate probably ever. They say 25 years, but they don’t know what that means, because it just goes back 25 years,” Trump continued, offering some perspective.
“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 anymore,” Trump declared.
“We’re not going to take it, just like we did on our southern border,” he added.
WATCH the presser below:
