President Donald Trump repeated his threat to take over Washington, D.C.’s government, which operates independently under home rule.
Trump again threatened a federal takeover of D.C., after a former Department of Government Efficiency worker was assaulted by teenagers in Dupont Circle. He called for the city to change the law to allow for prosecuting minors as adults, and said if the city doesn’t “get its act together,” his administration will take federal control of D.C.
Trump has threatened to take control of the nation’s capital many times since returning to office. In July, he cited perceived high crime, Mayor Muriel Bowser, and a potential deal between the district and the Washington Commanders as his reasons for attempting to take over D.C.’s government.
“We’re thinking about doing it, to be honest with you. We want a capital that runs flawlessly,” Trump said at the time. “It wouldn’t be hard for us to do it. And we’ve had a good relationship with the mayor. We’re testing to see if it works.”
“We have tremendous power at the White House to run places when we have to,” he said.
However, a district takeover would not be as simple as Trump has portrayed. It would require Congress to abolish the city’s home rule, which currently allows for a mayor and locally elected D.C. Council. Just a handful of elected Republicans support the repeal of home rule.
Since 1973, residents of Washington, D.C., have been empowered to elect their own mayor and other government officials. The city currently has more than 675,000 residents, and is more populous than Wyoming and Vermont, as well as many counties in the western United States.
There are still limits to home rule. Congress has to review all legislation passed by the D.C. Council before it becomes law, the district’s budget, and the president’s appointment of judges in the district. Congress also has the power to amend or repeal local laws. In 2023, for example, Republicans in Congress nullified a local law for the first time in 30 years when they blocked changes to D.C.’s criminal code.
Trump could more easily take over the Metropolitan Police Department if he determined that “special conditions of an emergency nature exist which require the use” of the force.
In that situation, however, Trump could control MPD for only 48 hours, but he could extend control for 30 days if he notified the top-ranking members of certain House and Senate committees that oversee the district.
Once defiant against Trump, Bowser has taken a measured approach to her relationship with the president in recent months as he and congressional Republicans have threatened to take over the district. After implementing the Black Lives Matter Plaza, a two-block-long street mural outside the White House in 2020, she ordered it removed after Trump threatened highway funding for the district. She has also stopped referring to D.C. as a “sanctuary city,” a phrase that has provoked Republican ire.
Trump has long called for the federal government to take over Washington, D.C., which he has said has “too much crime, too much graffiti.”
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The most violent crimes in the city, mainly homicides and carjackings, saw steep drops in frequency last year. There were fewer than 200 homicides for the first time since 2020. Carjackings additionally declined by nearly half last year after increasing for six straight years.
Violent crime in 2024 hit the lowest point in the district in more than 30 years, according to police data. It has also been down so far this year.
