Tensions erupt in the U.S. capital as Washington D.C. Mayor delivers a scathing rebuke of President Trump’s unprecedented federal takeover of the city. Calling the move “unsettling” and a dangerous precedent, the Mayor warns of deepening political unrest as protesters flood the streets. The clash over control of America’s capital now raises urgent questions about democracy, federal authority, and the future of civil liberties. WATCH the dramatic exchange unfold in real time.
00:00Under the authorities vested in me as the president of the United States, I'm officially invoking section 740 of the District of Columbia Home Rule Act, you know what that is, and placing the D.C. Metropolitan Police Department under direct federal control, and you'll be meeting the people that will be directly involved with that.
00:21If people are concerned about the president being able to move the National Guard into our city, the time to do that would have been when the Congress had a bill that it could have given control of the D.C. National Guard to D.C.
00:34Very good people, but they're tough, and they know what's happening, and they've done it before.
00:41When a city is not a state and not fully autonomous and doesn't have senators that the federal government can do.
00:48In addition, I'm deploying the National Guard to help reestablish law, order, and public safety in Washington, D.C., and they're going to be allowed to do their job properly.
00:59Good afternoon, everybody. I'm Muriel Bowser. I'm the mayor of Washington, D.C.
01:05The president talks about crime all the time.
01:09Yes. Have you not heard the president at all?
01:14From the campaign trail, in every conversation I had with him, we're always briefing the president on our progress.
01:23If I say our crime numbers have gone down, yet you've been a victim of crime, it doesn't matter to you if crime has gone down, if you were a victim or you know someone who was a victim.
01:35So we understand that. We work every day to stop crime.
01:42This year, crime isn't just down from 2023, it's also down from 2019, before the pandemic, and we're at a 30-year violent crime low.
01:57And while this action today is unsettling and unprecedented, I can't say that given some of the rhetoric of the past, that we're totally surprised.
02:09If people are concerned about a president's ability to have the MPD police department be responsive to the Department of Justice, the time to address that is when we're talking about statehood for D.C.
02:27If people are concerned about the president being able to move the National Guard into our city, the time to do that would have been when the Congress had a bill that it could have given control of the D.C. National Guard to D.C.
02:41So there are things that when a city is not a state and not fully autonomous and doesn't have senators, that the federal government can do.
02:51What could be a disaster is if we lose communities who won't call the police. That could be a disaster.
03:02What would be a disaster if communities won't talk to the police, if a crime has been committed and could help solve that crime.
03:09That could be a disaster. It would be a disaster if people who aren't committing crimes are antagonized into committing crimes.
03:19That would be a disaster.
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