Washington Mayor Muriel Bowser referred to as President Donald Trump’s choice to ship the Nationwide Guard to the capital “unsettling and unprecedented” as she moved to reassert metropolis management over its police division, in keeping with Politico.
Chatting with reporters on Monday, Bowser stated the police division’s construction had not modified, pushing again on Trump’s earlier declare of a federal takeover.
Trump stated the capital “has been overtaken by violent gangs and bloodthirsty criminals, roving mobs of untamed youth, drugged out maniacs and homeless folks,” and added that the police at the moment are “allowed to do regardless of the hell they need.”
Additionally Learn: After Trump’s DC takeover, New York and Mamdani in focus: ‘…in a short time’
Bowser cites crime drop, rejects Trump’s emergency declare
Bowser defended the division’s work, pointing to a drop in crime since a spike in 2023, and dismissed what she referred to as a “so-called emergency” that led to Trump’s order, per the outlet.
“Whereas this motion in the present day is unsettling and unprecedented, I can’t say that given a number of the rhetoric of the previous, that we’re completely stunned,” Bowser stated. “I can say to D.C. residents that we’ll proceed to function our authorities in a means that makes you proud.”
She stated the town would adjust to the order and proceed assembly federal legislation enforcement officers to plan coordination. However she burdened that whereas she would work with Lawyer Normal Pam Bondi and Terry Cole, who Trump appointed as federal commissioner to the Washington police, the town’s officers nonetheless reported to her.
“Nothing about our organisational chart has modified, and nothing within the government order would point out in any other case. So the chief of police studies via the deputy mayor to the mayor of the District of Columbia, and the 2 folks, I believe, that had been recognized within the presser report back to Lawyer Normal Bondi,” she stated.
Legislation lets Trump management DC police for 30 days
A hardly ever used provision of the District of Columbia Residence Rule Act permits Trump to take over the police division for as much as 30 days if he notifies sure congressional leaders. The legislation additionally offers Congress broader oversight of the town authorities, in keeping with the outlet.
Bowser stated the association pressured her to adjust to federal orders however argued that statehood for Washington would seemingly forestall such strikes.
She stated, “If individuals are involved concerning the president having the ability to transfer the Nationwide Guard into our metropolis, the time to do this would have been when the Congress had a invoice that it might have given management of the D.C. Nationwide Guard to D.C.,”
She added, “So there are issues that, when a metropolis just isn’t a state, and never absolutely autonomous, and doesn’t have senators, that the federal authorities can do.”
Some officers backed Trump’s motion. Gregg Pemberton, head of the police union, referred to as the intervention “a important stopgap,” per the outlet.
“We stand with the President in recognising that Washington, DC, can not proceed on this trajectory. Crime is uncontrolled, and our officers are stretched past their limits,” he stated.
