President Donald Trump announced Monday that he is putting the Washington Police, DC “under direct federal control”, invoking section 740 of the DC Interior Rule Law, which deals with the control of the city’s police force.
“We are withdrawing it. According to the authorities acquired in me as president of the United States, I am officially invoking section 740 of the Law of the Hogar of the Columbia District. You know what that is, and placing the DC Metropolitan Police Department under direct federal control,” Trump said.
Washington, the mayor of DC, Muriel Bowser, has not yet publicly commented on Trump’s announcement. ABC News has communicated with Bowser, as well as the Metropolitan Police Department to comment.
1973 DC Interior Rule Law It allows DC residents to choose a mayor, members of the DC Council and Commissioners of Vecindad Advisors. The law “is the result of the continuous impulse by the residents of the district for the control of their own local affairs,” According to the DC Council.
Even so, under the law, there is supervision of Congress. The Congress reviews all the legislation approved by the City Council of DC before it can become law and has authority over the DC budget. In addition, the president appoints the judges of DC and DC has no voting representation in Congress.
President Donald Trump takes questions from journalists in the press room of the press James Brady at the White House, on August 11, 2025, in Washington.
Andrew Caballero-Reynolds/AFP through Getty Images
Section 740 of the Interior Rule Law gives the President the ability to use the DC Metropolitan Police Department with “federal purposes” that the President “may consider necessary and appropriate.” On Monday, Trump said the attorney general Pam Bondi is taking command of the DC police force.
Section 740 of the DC Start Law has some limitations. The emergency control will expire in 30 days, unless the Senate and the Chamber promulgate a joint resolution to extend it.
When asked about the 30 -day period in ABC News Live, the US prosecutor of the Columbia district, Jeanine Pirro, said the president has sent a “really clear message” about the direction in which he wants to take DC
“I think that at the end of 30 days he will make the right decision about what he will do at that time in the future,” he said.
Trump has long threatened to take control of DC, saying that he wants to take energetic measures against violent crime in the district, although police statistics show that in the last two years, the violent crime in Washington, DC, has fallen dramatically.
Del. Eleanor Holmes Norton, the delegate who does not vote to the Washington House of Representatives, DC, described Trump’s decision “An atrocious assault on the DC home rule.”
DC Delegate Eleanor Holmes Norton speaks at a press conference on Capitol Hill Washington, DC on March 10, 2025.
Craig Hudson for Washington Post through Getty Images
“There are more than 700,000 DC residents, and they are worthy and capable of governing themselves,” Norton said in a statement on Monday. “The definitive solution to ensure that DC has control of its own resources is the approval of my DC State Law, which would provide DC for the same protections that the states enjoy.”
She says that the measure helps justify the need to approve the legislation that has repeatedly reintroduced to establish stateness in the Columbia district.
In Capitol Hill, many Democrats have said that the movements are a power outlet and a distraction of other issues, such as Trump’s participation with Jeffrey Epstein’s archives.
“The violent crime in Washington, DC, is at a minimum minimum of thirty years. Donald Trump has no basis for taking care of the local police department. And zero credibility on the issue of law and order. He loses,” wrote the leader of the minority of the House of Representatives, Hakeem Chiefs. A publication in X.
Democratic Senator Chris Murphy said in an X post that “Trump’s decision to take care of the DC Police is not about public safety” and it is “another attempt to distract Trump’s corruption and suppress the dissent.”
In Publish in xDemocratic Senator Tina Smith wrote: “What the hell are there in those files?!” – A reference to Epstein archives, accompanied by a Trump video in the information room for your ad.
Republicans have praised the announcement, claiming that Trump is “making DC safe again.”
“President Trump is right. We cannot allow the crime to destroy the capital of our nation,” the president of the House of Representatives, Mike Johnson He said in an X publication. “All Americans should be able to visit and enjoy Washington, DC without fear. Republicans of the House of Representatives support this effort to clean Washington, put an end to the wave of crime and restore the beauty of the largest capital in the world.”
Republican senator Josh Hawley applauded Trump’s decision, saying in x“Make DC beautiful, and sure, again!”
ABC News Jack date, Isabella Murray and John Parkinson contributed to this report.
