President Donald Trump announced on Monday that he is deploying the National Guard to combat violent crime in Washington, D.C.
Trump had previously hinted at both a federal takeover of D.C. and the deployment of the National Guard to combat the slew of violent crimes that have occurred in recent months.
“This is Liberation Day in D.C. and we’re gonna take our capital back. We’re taking it back. Under the authorities vested in me as the President of the United States, I’m officially invoking Section 40 of the District of Columbia Home Rule Act and placing the D.C. Metropolitan Police Department under federal control,” Trump said.
“In addition, I’m deploying the National Guard to help reestablish law and order and safety in Washington, D.C. and they’re gonna be allowed to do their job properly,” the president continued.
High profile case of violent crime have recently swept across the nation’s capital, particularly among the district’s youth. Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) staffer Edward Coristine, also known as “Big Balls,” intervened in a carjacking of a woman at around 3 a.m. on August 5 and got severely beaten by the suspects.
In response to the attack on Coristine, Trump increased the presence of federal law enforcement in D.C. by having the FBI, DEA and Homeland Security coordinate with the DC Metropolitan Police. The president wrote in a Truth Social post on Saturday that D.C. had become “one of the most dangerous cities anywhere in the World,” but promised it would “soon be one of the safest.”
“On Monday a Press Conference will be held at the White House which will, essentially, stop violent crime in Washington, D.C. It has become one of the most dangerous cities anywhere in the World. It will soon be one of the safest!!! Thank you for your attention to this matter,” Trump said.
Prior to that incident, two Israeli Embassy staffers were fatally shot outside of the Capital Jewish Museum on May 22 by 31-year-old Elias Rodriguez. The suspect has been additionally charged as of Thursday with two federal counts of first-degree murder under the D.C. criminal code and with two counts of hate crime that carry a maximum sentence of death or life imprisonment, the Department of Justice (DOJ) reported in a press release.
A gang-related shooting on June 30 killed 21-year-old congressional intern Eric Tarpinian-Jachym near a Metro station after the suspects emerged from their vehicle and opened fire on a crowd of people.
U.S. Attorney for Washington, D.C., Jeanine Pirro stated on Thursday that her hands are tied when it comes to prosecuting violent suspects in the district. She said that a 19-year-old was only sentenced to probation after shooting a person in the chest, which she characterized as being unacceptable.
“The sentence was probation. We can’t have that,” Pirro said. “And by the way, he wasn’t a kid. He was 19. These are the rules of D.C. Council. They’ve got to be changed. We got to have the ability to let people know that they’re gonna be accountable.”
Though violent crime has dropped 26% in comparison to 2024, a total of 99 homicides have thus far occurred in D.C. in 2025, according to the Metropolitan Police Department (MPD) tracker. The homicide rate has trended higher in comparison to the last decade, according to Axios.
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