Members of the District of Columbia’s National Guard started mobilizing around Washington one day after President Donald Trump announced his takeover of D.C.’s law enforcement to crack down on crime in the district.
White House sources confirmed to the Washington Examiner that the 800-odd guardsmen activated to support the D.C.’s Metropolitan Police Department would be deployed Tuesday for at least 30 days as part of Trump’s invocation of the Home Rule Act.
“They are expected to be on the ground today,” one source told the Washington Examiner.
To that end, the Washington Examiner saw several guardsmen arriving at the D.C. Armory, their headquarters in the District.
The Pentagon told the Washington Examiner on Monday that the guardsmen would provide logistics, transportation, and security help to the MPD and would not have the authority to make arrests, though they may detain people suspected of having committed a crime. The MPD will also be temporarily managed by Drug Enforcement Administration Administrator Terry Cole, who will report to Attorney General Pam Bondi.
On Tuesday, White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt told reporters that the guardsmen would join about 850 federal officers and agents who had surged across D.C. on Monday. Last week, FBI agents and other federal authorities were also sent to the district to patrol the city’s streets.
“They made a total of 23 arrests,” Leavitt said on Tuesday. “This is only the beginning. Over the course of the next month, the Trump administration will relentlessly pursue and arrest every violent criminal in the district who breaks the law, undermines public safety, and endangers law-abiding Americans.”
Amid criticism from Democrats who contend crime in D.C. has been decreasing, Leavitt added Trump would “not be deterred by soft-on-crime Democrat and media activists who refused to acknowledge this rampant crime on our streets.”
“He is going to make our nation’s capital the most beautiful, safe city on earth just as he promised on the campaign trail,” she said.
During Tuesday’s press briefing, Leavitt declined to answer a question regarding whether Trump would award a Presidential Medal of Freedom to Edward Coristine, the former Department of Government Efficiency aide known as “Big Balls,” whose alleged assault last week during a carjacking prompted the president to take over D.C.
But the press secretary did say Trump would “reevaluate and reassess” the administration’s progress regarding crime in D.C. before deciding whether to work with Congress to extend the takeover and to pass legislation reforming the district’s cash bail and juvenile offender laws. She similarly defended the president’s approach to homeless encampments, which includes assistance in finding housing and with mental health and drug addiction services.
“There are only two homeless encampments remaining in D.C. federal parks under the National Park Service‘s jurisdiction, and the removal of those two remaining camps is scheduled for this week,” she continued.
TRUMP’S DC POLICE TAKEOVER PUTS DEMOCRATS ON DEFENSE ON CRIME
Meanwhile, D.C. Mayor Muriel Bowser, who has partially welcomed Trump’s takeover, has simultaneously used it to advocate for the district’s statehood.
“While we pay taxes and uphold the responsibilities of citizenship, we’re not a state,” Bowser wrote on social media. “We don’t control the DC National Guard, and we don’t have senators or full autonomy. That’s why you’ve heard me and many other Washingtonians advocate for DC statehood.”
