US President seizes control of Washington DC Police Department

Donald Trump has launched a federal takeover of law and order in Washington D.C. despite crime rates being at a 30-year-low.

Transcript

00:00Protesters are marching the main streets of the capital making as much noise as they can

00:07against today's announcement from the president that he will order 800 National Guard into

00:13Washington DC.

00:14He will temporarily reassign 120 FBI agents and he will take federal control of the DC

00:20Metropolitan Police.

00:22Now he says this will liberate Washington DC from crime and he will move people experiencing

00:28homelessness out of the city.

00:30He says he's reclaiming the capital and will be a shining example for the United States.

00:35He used aggressive language intentionally.

00:38He wants this done swiftly.

00:40He described, claimed that there were people that were bloodthirsty criminals and gangs in

00:46the city and he called people experiencing homelessness in encampments.

00:50He said that they were slums and he was going to move them off.

00:53While Washington DC does have issues and challenges with crime, homelessness and other social

00:59inequalities, violent crime here is actually at a 30 year low and the homicide rate dropped

01:0532% last year so there has been no crime spike here in Washington DC.

01:10As for people experiencing homelessness he didn't say or go into details how or if the federal

01:16government would provide any assistance for them but said that they would be moved away

01:20from the city and put in shelters far away.

01:24People here are angry.

01:25They say today's announcement was unwarranted and the mayor of Washington DC said it was

01:31unsettling and unprecedented but acknowledged there's nothing the city can do because it's

01:35within the powers of the president.

01:37Here is what some protesters said earlier today.

01:40He's destroying our democracy one by one.

01:42The Congress won't stand up to him.

01:43The courts won't stand up to him.

01:45So the American people have to stand up to him and the only way to do it is to get out

01:50on the streets and protest.

01:52He wants to take over the whole city.

01:54He wants to govern the city.

01:56Now Congress has a certain amount of control over the city's funds and he's not given them

02:02certain funds.

02:03Now the last time the president ordered the National Guards onto the street was in California

02:11in June in the LA protests and while it was within his powers it was against the wishes

02:17of the California governor.

02:18And today's announcement is another example of the president using all the levers he has

02:24to exert executive branch authority over cities like Washington DC.