'Attack on Democrat-run cities: Trump takes DC crackdown to new level, flexing new-found authority'

5 months ago

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00:00Next, Washington, D.C. has been overtaken by violent gangs, bloodthirsty criminals and drugged out maniacs.

00:07That's according to the U.S. president.

00:10Donald Trump says he's placing the city under direct federal control and deploying 800 National Guard troops there

00:17as he vows to tackle violent crime, which statistics show has actually fallen.

00:22Trump claims that Washington, D.C. performs poorly on safety relative to the capitals of Iraq, Brazil and Colombia.

00:31He also says his administration has begun removing homeless encampments.

00:35Let's hear a little of what he had to say.

00:38Our capital city has been overtaken by violent gangs and bloodthirsty criminals, roving mobs of wild youth,

00:45drugged out maniacs and homeless people.

00:48And we're not going to let it happen anymore.

00:50We're not going to take it.

00:51We have other cities also that are bad, very bad.

00:54You look at Chicago, how bad it is.

00:57You look at Los Angeles, how bad it is.

01:00And this will go further.

01:02We're starting very strongly with D.C. and we're going to clean it up real quick.

01:07The president has used his social media and White House megaphones to message that his administration is tough on crime,

01:14yet his ability to shape policy might be limited outside Washington,

01:18which has a unique status as a congressionally established federal district.

01:23Well, for more, we're joined now by legal analyst and former prosecutor Eric Lisanne.

01:28Eric, thanks so much for being with us on the program.

01:31We heard some very strong words from Donald Trump during throughout that lengthy press briefing.

01:38He's suggesting Washington is essentially one of the most dangerous cities on the planet.

01:44Has there actually been a spike in violent crime there?

01:47And if not, as statistics appear to suggest, why is Trump saying all of this?

01:55He's saying it for political gain.

01:57Thank you, by the way, for having me on.

01:59Trump has always sought to do things for the appearance of what they might convey to his wider audience,

02:08specifically to a wider base that doesn't live or have familiarity with the city of Washington, D.C.,

02:15or many of these other large cities.

02:17So this is consistent with that type of messaging,

02:20and it's consistent with his type of desire to show that he's a strong man and that only he can fix it.

02:26Washington, D.C., presents a somewhat unique situation because, as you mentioned,

02:33in the Constitution of the United States, it is singled out as a federal district,

02:39or at least a portion of it could be singled out as a federal district.

02:43And there's some ambiguity in exactly what the limits of congressional power are

02:49and what would need to be done by amending the Constitution and things like this.

02:53But that leaves a lot of gray areas, and that's why Trump is seemingly using it first as a laboratory

03:00to what he might do in other cities where his power might be a little bit less clear-cut.

03:06We saw some of this in Los Angeles last month,

03:09and now we're seeing it taken, apparently, to another level right now.

03:14Yeah, because as you say, it's not the first time that Trump has been critical of Democratic-run city administrations.

03:20Is that also what this is really about?

03:22You know, he's also talking about taking this plan to the streets of New York and Chicago.

03:28It absolutely seems to be an attack on Democratic-run cities

03:32and a way for him to sort of exercise and flex his newfound authority.

03:39And so far, the city leaders in Washington, D.C., at least, have been very accommodating to him on that.

03:46We'll have to see what happens in other cities and in other states where, of course,

03:51California, Gavin Newsom, in contrast, has been very much opposed and doing everything he can to oppose it.

03:59I don't know if that's going to be a change in the situation here in Washington, D.C.,

04:05where the city leaders have been compliant up until now.

04:08But it has every earmark or hallmark of an attempt to impose political authority

04:17on a district or an area where he needs to assert his power

04:24because he's not accepted as legitimate or not popularly supported.

04:30And as you say, Eric, these kind of threats that we're seeing coming from Donald Trump,

04:34they're highlighting how Washington, D.C.'s relationship with the federal government

04:38actually restricts its autonomy.

04:41So talk to us a little bit more for viewers perhaps outside the United States

04:44about what makes the city so unique and why has it become such a target for Republicans?

04:51Yes, it has a very unique and complex relationship.

04:54It starts with the description of it in the Constitution itself,

04:58which says that it shall be a federal district.

05:01And as far as that goes, it makes a certain amount of sense.

05:05But for that reason, it was never part of a state,

05:07as it would seem to be an area where only the government would be the business.

05:14Over time, of course, that has changed.

05:16There's over 700,000 people that live in the city proper right now,

05:21and it's bigger than some states.

05:22And it contributes to the federal FISC more money than most states,

05:27certainly more money per capita.

05:29So much has obviously changed necessarily since the Constitution was written.

05:35But because of that language, the federal government up until 1973

05:39governed the city directly.

05:42And what we now call today home rule was only established in 1973,

05:47but that still gives Congress the power to oversee and do very many things.

05:53The other side of that coin is that because D.C. isn't a state,

05:57it doesn't have any real representation in the federal legislature.

06:02So it has become, to many that live there,

06:05the embodiment of the revolutionary slogan,

06:09no taxation without representation,

06:11in that it has extensive taxation and it has no representation.

06:16The Home Rule Act of 1973 was designed to address that,

06:21and it has not been without some problems.

06:24But there has been since then a clear trend to devolve upon the city

06:30more powers to govern itself.

06:32And in many ways, it was largely self-governing up until now.

06:36But Trump is now in one fell swoop seeking to reverse that,

06:41and in a very draconian way with federal law enforcement

06:44that is not at all trained for this kind of city policing function.

06:49So there is an enormous potential for not just risk,

06:53but actual danger to city residents because of this

06:56that did not exist before.

06:59Yeah, and you mentioned all the grey areas that arise from this.

07:02The deployment of these National Guard troops to L.A.,

07:05that became the subject of a legal battle,

07:08hasn't quite yet played out in the courts.

07:09So is this actually lawful, what Donald Trump is announcing today?

07:15I think arguably it is not lawful

07:17because the stated rationale for this

07:23does not match up with the reality on the ground.

07:26And while some deference has to be given,

07:29and the courts are falling all over themselves

07:31to give that deference to presidential findings

07:34and assertions of what is or isn't a national emergency

07:39or a local emergency

07:41that would justify this sort of deployment of the National Guard.

07:46But there is here a contrast

07:49that I think a court could be cognizant of

07:52and say this does not justify the extreme measures

07:55that are being put into place here.

07:57But note that he's not actually yet involving the military itself.

08:02The National Guard has a sort of hybrid character,

08:06so it falls outside of other legislation

08:09such as the Posse Comitatus Act.

08:12But it nonetheless is really pushing the limits,

08:15particularly as Trump is also in a very radical move

08:19stating that he is going to assert direct authority

08:22over the local police.

08:24He's already appointed a federal official to do that.

08:27I think this is testing very much the limits of his power,

08:31at least, if not constitutionally,

08:34at least under the Home Rule Act of 1973.

08:38So now we're going to be back into the courts.

08:40I'm almost certain to see how much of this

08:44is really going to be permitted by those courts.

08:47Eric, we'll have to leave it there for now.

08:49Thanks so much for being with us, though.

08:50That is legal analyst and former U.S. prosecutor,

08:53Eric Lisanne.

'Attack on Democrat-run cities: Trump takes DC crackdown to new level, flexing new-found authority'

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