U.S. President Donald Trump speaks to the media as he departs the White House on August 1, 2025 in Washington, DC.
Win McNamee | Getty Images
President Donald Trump stated Saturday that he’ll maintain a press availability at the White House subsequent week to deal with violent crime in Washington, D.C., days after the White House introduced it was growing federal regulation enforcement throughout town.
“On Monday a Press Conference will be held at the White House which will, essentially, stop violent crime in Washington, D.C,” he wrote on social media.
Trump, who has regularly criticized the Democratic-led metropolis, claimed that D.C. will “soon be one of the safest cities,” at the same time as data shows that violent crime in the nation’s capital has been reducing.
Trump this week ramped up his rhetoric about crime in the district, after a former member of the Department of Government Efficiency was assaulted in an tried carjacking.
“He went through a bad situation, to put it mildly, and there’s too much of it. We’re going to do something about it,” Trump stated Wednesday.
Trump additionally threatened to federalize Washington, D.C., if native officers do not “get [their] act together, and quickly.”
On Thursday, the White House stated it was launching a seven-day effort to crack down on crime in town.
“Washington, D.C. is an amazing city, but it has been plagued by violent crime for far too long,” White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt stated in a press release, in accordance to NBC Washington.
“President Trump has directed an increased presence of federal law enforcement to protect innocent citizens. Starting tonight, there will be no safe harbor for violent criminals in D.C.”
Local officers condemned Trump’s order and warned that he’s encroaching on “home rule,” the decades-old act that permits D.C. residents to elect their very own mayor and council members.
“Even if crime in D.C. weren’t at a historic low point, President Trump’s comments would be misguided and offensive to the more than 700,000 people who live permanently in the nation’s capital,” Rep. Eleanor Holmes Norton, D.C.’s nonvoting delegate, stated in a statement.
“Although I won’t allow them to succeed, the Republicans pushing to repeal the Home Rule Act have no plan to run the District should they abolish the mayor’s office and D.C. Council,” she stated.