Washington, D.C. Mayor Muriel Bowser is holding a press conference following President Donald Trump’s announcement Monday that he’s taking over Washington’s police department and activating 800 members of the National Guard in the hopes of reducing crime, even as city officials stressed crime is already falling in the nation’s capital.
Trump has promised new steps to tackle homelessness and crime in Washington, prompting the city’s mayor to voice concerns about the potential use of the National Guard to patrol the streets.
Here’s the latest:
Bowser works to avoid fight with Trump, but can’t disguise some anger
D.C. Mayor Bowser fielded multiple questions Monday designed to get her to say something harsh about President Donald Trump. But the 3rd term mayor didn’t take the bait, for the most part — calmly laying out the city’s case that crime has been dropping steadily and Trump’s perceived state of emergency simply doesn’t match the numbers.
She repeatedly acknowledged that Trump has “broad authority” under the law and would be difficult to challenge.
The composure slipped a bit toward the end, when she dropped a reference to Trump’s “so-called emergency.”
Trump could extend takeover of DC police for 30 days, then he needs congressional approval
President Donald Trump is invoking Section 740 of the DC Home Rule Act to take over control of the city’s police department, saying in a letter to a congressional committee that the police force is needed for federal purposes.
The Republican president says in the letter sent to the House Oversight Committee Monday that he is taking the action for the purpose of “maintaining law and order in the nation’s seat of government; protecting federal buildings, national monuments, and other federal property; and ensuring conditions necessary for the orderly functioning of the federal government.”
By invoking the law, Trump is able to take over the police for more than 48 hours, but if he wants to continue for more than 30 days, both the House and Senate would need to give him a vote of approval.
House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries denounces Trump police takeover plan as ‘illegitimate’
Jeffries, the top House Democrat, argued that the administration “has consistently broken the law and violated the Constitution to further the personal and political agenda of a wannabe king.”
Jeffries denounced other Republicans as “cowardly.”
His statement did not mention any immediate actions congressional Democrats would take in response to Trump’s plan.
“The Republican Party has zero credibility on the issue of law and order,” said Jeffries.
“Donald Trump doesn’t care about public safety. On his first day in office, he pardoned hundreds of violent felons—many of whom brazenly assaulted law enforcement officers on January 6,” he continued. “We stand with the residents of the District of Columbia and reject this unjustified power grab as illegitimate.”
DC mayor says she was unaware of Trump’s plan to take over city police
Mayor Muriel Bowser says she had “one brief call” with the White House over the weekend about activating the National Guard, so she thought Trump’s announcement would be about calling up the National Guard, not about taking over the Metropolitan Police Department.
GOP lawmaker raises concern over the White House-Nvidia deal
Rep. John Moolenaar, the Republican chair of the House Select Committee on China, also spoke against the Trump administration’s deal to get a 15% cut in the sales of advanced U.S. chips to China in exchange of export licenses.
“Export controls are a frontline defense in protecting our national security, and we should not set a precedent that incentivizes the government to grant licenses to sell China technology that will enhance its AI capabilities,” said the Republican from Michigan.
Trump confirmed the deal but suggested the chips to be sold to China are “essentially old.” U.S. companies are still banned from selling their most advanced chips to China, which are critical in developing artificial intelligence.
Bowser calls Trump takeover of DC police ‘unsettling’
D.C. Mayor Muriel Bowser said Monday that the city had reached a 30-year low in violent crime. Bowser said that crime was down not just from a post-pandemic peak in 2023, but from 2019 levels prior to the pandemic.
Bowser highlighted the district’s parks, schools and public transportation and said that it was important for those who live and visit here to know “just how beautiful our city is and how proud we are of all that we’ve accomplished here.
Bowser’s comments are a response to President Trump’s announcement of his takeover of D.C. police force. Bowser said that the steps were “unsettling” but not without precedent.
“My message to residents is this,” Bowser said. “We know that access to our democracy is tenuous. That is why you have heard me and many Washingtonians before me advocate for full statehood.”
DC police union backs Trump’s takeover
The union representing DC police officers is backing Trump’s takeover move, though it called for the federal intervention to be temporary.
Union chairman Gregg Pemberton said it agrees with the president that “immediately action is necessary” to tamp down crime.
Still, Pemberton said that the city ultimately needs a police department that’s “fully staffed and supported.”
He also called for the repeal of criminal justice policies and laws passed by the city council.
Maryland governor says Trump mobilizing National Guard in Washington ‘lacks seriousness’
Maryland Gov. Wes Moore says Trump’s decision to deploy the National Guard in D.C. is also “deeply dangerous.”
Moore, a Democrat who served as a paratrooper and captain in the U.S. Army in Afghanistan, said in a statement Monday that the president’s actions lack both data and a battle plan.
“He is simply using honorable men and women as pawns to distract us from his policies, which continue to drive up unemployment and strip away health care and food assistance from those who need it most,” Moore said.
He urged the president to look to Maryland for ways of reducing violent crime. Moore noted that homicides in Maryland are down by more than 20% since Moore’s inauguration in January 2023.
“We await outreach from the White House if they want to have a serious conversation about public safety. But we won’t hold our breath,” he said.
Appeals court rules Trump administration must restore website tracking spending
A federal appeals court has given the Trump administration until Friday to restore a website that tracks spending appropriated by Congress.
In a ruling on Saturday, a three-judge panel of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the DC Circuit refused to block a lower court order requiring the restoration. The court said disclosing the spending information was a “permissible exercise of legislative authority” with roots in the nation’s founding. An email to the Office of Management and Budget on Monday was not immediately returned.
The database at issue in the case first went up in July 2022. The Trump administration pulled it down in March. It argued publicly disclosing spending decisions intrudes on executive power. The administration has faced numerous lawsuits over decisions to freeze spending authorized by Congress.
Rev. Al Sharpton blasts Trump’s DC police takeover as ‘an assault’ on Black cities
Following President Donald Trump’s announcement on Monday that he would deploy National Guard troop to take over the city’s police department, civil rights leader Rev. Al Sharpton warned of the move’s potential long-term repercussions.
“Donald Trump was inspired to take this disgusting, dangerous, and derogatory action solely out of self interest,” Sharpton said in a statement. “Let’s call the inspiration for this assault on a majority Black city for what it is: another bid to distract his angry, frustrated base over his administration’s handling of the Epstein files.”
Sharpton said D.C.’s leadership must push back on the president’s use of Washington D.C. and its residents as “political props.”
“We cannot, nor will we, take this lying down,” he said. “Threatening to hit if people spit, calling all Black and low-income neighborhoods slums, and throwing away the humanity of homeless people by equating them to criminals is the beginning of the end if we don’t stand up. This is the ultimate affront to justice and civil rights many of us have dedicated our lives to protecting and expanding.”
Top DC prosecutor calls police takeover ‘unlawful’
The top prosecutor in the nation’s capital is calling Trump’s move to take over the city’s police department “unnecessary and unlawful.”
District of Columbia Attorney General Brian Schwalb says crime is not an emergency levels. After a spike in 2023, violent crime hit its lowest level in decades last year and has continued to sink in 2025, he said.
The federal takeover could face a challenge in court, and Schwalb said his office is “considering all of our options.”
Trump goofs on location and date of Putin summit during briefing
Trump said a couple of times during the press briefing that he would be traveling to Russia to meet with Vladimir Putin — but their summit is taking place in Alaska.
“I’m going to Russia on Friday,” he said in one instance.
He also made an erroneous reference at another time to the summit being next week instead.
Trump jokes about the crowded media briefing room
The president began the briefing Monday by commenting on the large crowd of journalists gathered for the news conference. He said he’d never seen the media briefing room as crowded as it was. Later during the briefing, he joked they may be violating fire codes.
“I’ve done this for years now, hard to believe,” he said. “I’ve never seen this room so packed. In fact, I’m sure it’s a violation of every fire code.”
Trump said that in his meeting with Putin, he’ll review that country’s ‘parameters’ to end war
“Now I may leave and say ‘good luck,’ and that’ll be the end,” Trump said.
Trump on the upcoming meeting with Putin: ‘I think it’ll be good, but it might be bad’
Trump says he can see a scenario where the U.S. and Russia normalize trade relations if things go well at his meeting with Putin later this week.
“I do, yeah,” he responded when asked about the prospect ahead of the Alaska meeting.
He said “Russia has a very valuable piece of land” and mused about what would happen if “Putin would go toward business instead of war.”
As for the prospect of progress at that meeting? Trump said: “I think it’ll be good, but it might be bad.”
Trump says ‘we’ll see what happens’ with China as tariff truce deadline looms
That came during a news conference after Trump was asked whether he plans to extend his 90-day pause on reciprocal tariffs on China.
The U.S.-China trade truce ends Aug. 12 and if it isn’t extended, rates on Chinese goods could climb back to over 80%.
“They’ve been dealing quite nicely,” Trump said, adding that he has a good relationship with Chinese President Xi Jinping.
Trump calls his upcoming sit-down with Putin ‘really a feel out meeting, a little bit’
The president said he was open to meeting with Putin first and then meeting with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy or meeting with both together — though he didn’t say he’d push for a three-person meeting.
Trump said “President Putin invited me to get involved” and even said he thought it was very respectful that Putin is coming to U.S. territory for the meeting in Alaska, instead of insisting that Trump go to Russia.
He said he’ll tell Putin that it’s time to end Russia’s war with Ukraine.
Trump says he’s ‘looking at’ reclassifying marijuana as a less dangerous drug
“We’re looking at reclassification,” Trump said, adding “it’s early.”
He said he planned to make a determination in the coming weeks.
The president said marijuana “does bad for the children,” but that easing penalties associated with it is a “very complicated subject” because some people support doing so.
Trump said he’d “heard great things having to do with medical” use of marijuana.
A potential move to remove marijuana from the list of Schedule I controlled substances to a Schedule III drug would make it significantly easier to buy and sell cannabis.
The president says other cities could be subject to the same efforts
Trump said he hopes other cities, including Los Angeles, New York and Chicago, are watching the steps he’s announced in D.C. and would take steps to “self-clean up.”
He said that if needed, the administration would take similar steps in other cities and criticized their leadership at the local and state levels.
Trump says he’s bringing in 800 National Guard members to assist with law enforcement in DC
In addition, Trump also said “we will bring in the military if it’s needed” but added “I don’t think we’ll need it.”
Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth compared sending the Guard into the nation’s capital to deployments to the southern U.S. border and Los Angeles.
“We will work alongside all D.C. police and federal law enforcement,” Hegseth said.
Hegseth said the D.C. National Guard will be “flowing into the streets of Washington in the coming week.”
He also said the Pentagon was “prepared to bring in other National Guard units, other specialized units.”
Trump says he signed documents to give himself authority to crack down on crime in Washington
The president said he signed an executive order and presidential memorandum in the Oval Office before holding his news conference.
One executive order invoked presidential powers under the Home Rule Act to take over Washington’s police force.
He also signed what the administration called statutorily required notification letters to DC Mayor Bowser and relevant congressional leaders.
Trump also signed a presidential memorandum directing Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth to deploy the National Guard in the nation’s capital.
Ousted FDA vaccine chief Vinay Prasad returning to the agency
The polarizing Food and Drug Administration official is getting his job back less than two weeks after being pressured to step down at the urging of conservative activists.
Dr. Vinay Prasad is resuming leadership of FDA’s center for vaccines and biotech therapies, a spokesperson for the Department of Health and Human Services said in a statement.
Prasad left the agency last month after drawing ire of right-wing activists, including Laura Loomer, who flagged his past statements criticizing President Trump.
He was also targeted by biotech executives and patient groups for briefly halting shipments of a therapy for muscular dystrophy, due to safety concerns.
But Prasad has also had the backing of health secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. Under Prasad, the FDA restricted the approvals of two new COVID shots from vaccine makers Novavax and Moderna.
Trump declaring public safety emergency, says Attorney General Pam Bondi is taking over DC police
Trump complained about potholes and graffiti in the city and said it was “embarrassing.”
“This is a tragic emergency. And it’s embarrassing for me to be up here,” Trump said. “I don’t like being up here talking about how unsafe and how dirty and disgusting this once beautiful capital was, with graffiti all over the walls.”
Trump says DC doesn’t need more police, as he orders more federal officers into the District
Trump also said he would bring in the military if needed.
“This is not a big area,” Trump said. “What you need is rules and regulations, and you need the right people to implement them.”
Trump to deploy National Guard and place DC police under federal control
In a news conference, Trump said he’ll place the D.C. police department under federal control and deploy the National Guard.
Trump said he wants to “rescue our nation’s capital from crime, bloodshed, bedlam and squalor.” The Democratic mayor of D.C., Muriel Bowser, has noted that violent crime in Washington has decreased since a rise in 2023.
Trump cited a number of recent high-profile incidents, including the killing of a 21-year-old Congressional intern and the beating of a DOGE staffer during an attempted carjacking.
“This is liberation day in D.C. and we’re going to take our Capitol back,” the president said.
Trump said he would start with D.C., but the wider crackdown on crime would go further to other Americans.
“We’re going to clean it up real quick, very quickly,” he said.
Democratic lawmaker questions the reported deal between chipmakers and the administration
The top Democrat on a House panel focusing on competition with China raised concerns over the reported agreement that the Trump administration is to get a 15% cut from U.S. chips sales in China in exchange of granting export licenses, calling it “a dangerous misuse of export controls that undermines our national security.”
Rep. Raja Krishnamoorthi, the ranking member of the House Select Committee on China, said he would seek answers about the legal basis for this arrangement and demand full transparency from the administration.
“Our export control regime must be based on genuine security considerations, not creative taxation schemes disguised as national security policy,” he said. “Chip export controls aren’t bargaining chips, and they’re not casino chips either. We shouldn’t be gambling with our national security to raise revenue.”
The U.S. has placed export controls on most powerful U.S. computing chips, banning their sales in China to prevent them from being used to boost China’s military capabilities.
Germany invites Trump, Zelenskyy, NATO, EU leaders to a virtual meeting before Trump-Putin summit
German Chancellor Friedrich Merz has invited President Trump, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy, the NATO secretary general and several European leaders to a virtual meeting Wednesday ahead of the Trump-Putin summit later this week.
The German chancellery said in a statement Monday that the talks would focus on “the current situation in Ukraine with a view to the planned meeting between U.S. President Trump and Russian President Putin.”
It said the talks will focus on “further options for action to put pressure on Russia” as well as “preparations for possible peace negotiations and related issues of territorial claims and security.”
Europeans and Ukrainians so far are not invited to the summit Friday in Alaska.
▶ Read more about Europe and the upcoming summit on Ukraine
Judge denies request to unseal transcripts from grand jury that indicted Ghislaine Maxwell
Transcripts of the secret grand jury testimony that led to the sex trafficking indictment of Jeffrey Epstein’s former girlfriend, Ghislaine Maxwell won’t be released, a judge decided Monday.
Judge Paul A. Engelmayer said in a written ruling that the government had suggested the materials could be released publicly “casually or promiscuously,” which would risk “unraveling the foundations of secrecy upon which the grand jury is premised” and eroding confidence by persons called to testify before future grand juries.
“And it is no answer to argue that releasing the grand jury materials, because they are redundant of the evidence at Maxwell’s trial, would be innocuous. The same could be said for almost any grand jury testimony, by summary witnesses or others, given in support of charges that later proceeded to trial,” he added.
▶ Read more about the Jeffrey Epstein case
Federal law enforcement assigned to DC patrols in crime crackdown
About 500 federal law enforcement officers are being tasked with deploying throughout the nation’s capital as part of the Trump administration’s effort to combat on crime, a person familiar with the matter told The Associated Press on Monday.
More than 100 FBI agents and about 40 agents with the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives are among federal law enforcement personnel being assigned to patrols in Washington, the person briefed on the plans said. The Drug Enforcement Administration, U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement and Marshals Service are also contributing officers.
The person spoke on the condition of anonymity because they weren’t authorized to publicly discuss personnel matters. The Justice Department didn’t immediately have a comment Monday morning.
The White House last week announced plans for an increased presence of federal law enforcement in Washington as part of the Trump administration’s crackdown on crime.
— Alanna Durkin Richer
Europe says the US-Russia summit this week cannot decide on Ukraine land swaps
But the Europeans concede that Moscow is unlikely to give up control of Ukrainian land it holds.
Ahead of the summit in Alaska on Friday, President Trump suggested that a peace deal could include “some swapping of territories,” but the Europeans see no sign that Russia will offer anything to swap. Europeans and Ukrainians so far are not invited to the summit.
European Union foreign ministers are meeting on Monday following talks on Ukraine among U.S. and European security advisors over the weekend. They are wary that President Vladimir Putin will try to claim a political victory by portraying Ukraine as inflexible.
▶ Read more about Europe and upcoming summit
Trump’s Monday schedule
The only thing on Trump’s schedule today is a news conference at 10 a.m., where he’s expected to announce plans to tackle homelessness and crime in Washington.
Trump is promising new steps to tackle homelessness and crime in Washington
Trump is promising new steps to tackle homelessness and crime in Washington, prompting the city’s mayor to voice concerns about the potential use of the National Guard to patrol the streets in the nation’s capital.
Trump wrote in a social media post that he would hold a White House news conference on Monday to discuss his plans to make the District of Columbia “safer and more beautiful than it ever was before.”
“The Homeless have to move out, IMMEDIATELY,” Trump wrote Sunday. “We will give you places to stay, but FAR from the Capital. The Criminals, you don’t have to move out. We’re going to put you in jail where you belong.”
Last week, the Republican president directed federal law enforcement agencies to increase their presence in Washington for seven days, with the option “to extend as needed.”
Trump said last week that he was considering ways for the federal government to seize control of Washington, asserting that crime was “ridiculous” and the city was “unsafe,” after the recent assault of a high-profile member of the Department of Government Efficiency.
▶ Read more about Trump’s upcoming announcement
