President Donald Trump announced Monday that he is putting Washington, D.C. police “under direct federal control” — invoking Section 740 of D.C.’s Home Rule Act, which deals with control of the city’s police force.
“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,” Trump said.
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Washington, D.C. Mayor Muriel Bowser on Monday said D.C. will follow Trump’s orders, but said the move underscored the need for D.C. to make its own decisions and advocated for D.C. statehood. Metropolitan Police Department Chief Pamela Smith said the department will work with federal partners, as it has in the past.
“While this action today is unsettling and unprecedented, I can’t say that, given some of the rhetoric of the past, that we’re totally surprised,” Bowser said.
Trump has long threatened to take control of D.C., saying he wants to crack down on violent crime in the district although police statistics show that in the past two years, violent crime in Washington, D.C., has fallen dramatically.
D.C.’s Home Rule Act of 1973 allows D.C. residents to elect a mayor, members of D.C. Council and Advisory Neighborhood Commissioners. The act “is the result of the ongoing push by District residents for control of their own local affairs,” according to D.C. Council.
Still, under the act, there is congressional oversight. Congress reviews all legislation passed by D.C. Council before it can become law and has authority over D.C.’s budget. Additionally, the president appoints D.C.’s judges and D.C. has no voting representation in Congress.
Section 740 of the Home Rule Act gives the president the ability to use D.C.’s Metropolitan Police Department for “federal purposes” that the president “may deem necessary and appropriate.” On Monday, Trump said Attorney General Pam Bondi is taking command of D.C.’s police force.
Section 740 of the DC Home Rule Act does have some limitations. The emergency control will expire in 30 days, unless the Senate and House enact into law a joint resolution to extend it.
Asked about the 30-day timeframe on ABC News Live, U.S. Attorney for the District of Columbia Jeanine Pirro said the president has sent a “real clear message” about the direction he wants to take D.C.
“I think at the end of 30 days, he will make the right decision as to what he is going to do at that point going forward,” she said.
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Del. Eleanor Holmes Norton — the non-voting delegate to the House of Representatives from Washington, D.C. — called Trump’s decision “an egregious assault on D.C. home rule.”
“There are more than 700,000 D.C. residents, and they are worthy and capable of governing themselves,” Norton, a Democrat, said in a statement Monday. “The ultimate solution to ensure D.C. has control of its own resources is passage of my D.C. statehood bill, which would provide D.C. the same protections the states enjoy.”
She says the move helps justify the need to pass legislation she has repeatedly reintroduced to establish statehood in the District of Columbia.
House Judiciary Committee Ranking Democrat Rep. Jamie Raskin, in a statement, said he will be introducing a resolution in the House, pursuant to the District of Columbia Home Rule Act of 1973, to reverse “this plainly ridiculous” state of local emergency and “restore full home rule powers to the mayor, council and people of the District of Columbia.”
It’s unclear when the Maryland Democrat would introduce this legislation. The House is still on their August recess, but he could bring it up during a pro-forma session, which would mean he does not have to wait until next month to introduce it.
On Capitol Hill, many Democrats have said the moves are a power grab by the president and a distraction from other matters, such as Trump’s involvement with the Jeffrey Epstein files.
“Violent crime in Washington, D.C. is at a thirty-year low. Donald Trump has no basis to take over the local police department. And zero credibility on the issue of law and order. Get lost,” House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries wrote in a post on X.
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Democratic Sen. Chris Murphy said in a post on X that “Trump’s decision to take over the DC police isn’t about public safety” and is “another attempt to distract from Trump’s corruption and suppress dissent.”
Sen. Patty Murray said Trump’s decision was a distraction.
“He’s a pathetic wannabe dictator who wants to distract you from his connection to the Epstein files, skyrocketing costs, and his weak job numbers,” the Washington Democrat said in a post on X.
Republicans have lauded the announcement, claiming that Trump is “making D.C. safe again.”
“President Trump is RIGHT. We can’t allow crime to destroy our Nation’s Capital,” House Speaker Mike Johnson said in a post on X. “Every American should be able to visit and enjoy Washington, D.C. without fear. House Republicans support this effort to CLEAN UP Washington, END the crime wave, and RESTORE the beauty of the greatest capital in the world.”
Republican Sen. Josh Hawley applauded Trump’s decision, saying on X, “Make DC beautiful — and SAFE — again!”
ABC News’ Jack Date, Isabella Murray and John Parkinson contributed to this report.
