WASHINGTON, Aug 7, 2025 (BSS/AFP) - President Donald Trump on Wednesday 
mused again about the possibility of taking federal control of the US capital 
Washington, including by using soldiers, to counter what he falsely suggested 
was rising crime in the city.

Under a more-than 50-year agreement, governance of Washington rests with the 
locally elected government of the District of Columbia -- including its mayor 
-- with Congress having an oversight role.

Trump has long chafed at that arrangement and has repeatedly suggested he 
would like to federalize the city, giving the White House the final say in 
how it is run.

"We're considering it, yeah, because the crime is ridiculous," he told 
reporters in response to a question about whether he should be in charge of 
the city's police force.

"We want to have a great safe capital -- and we're going to have it.

"The rate of crime, the rate of muggings, killings and everything else; we're 
not going to let it -- and that includes bringing in the National Guard, 
maybe very quickly too," he said.

The comments come a day after the billionaire president took to his social 
media platform to threaten city leaders.

"If DC doesn't get its act together, and quickly, we will have no choice but 
to take Federal control of the City, and run this City how it should be run," 
he wrote.

Violent crime in Democratic-controlled Washington fell in the first half of 
2025 by 26 percent compared with a year earlier, police statistics show.

The city's crime rates in 2024 were already their lowest in three decades, 
according to figures produced by the Justice Department before Trump took 
office.

Trump's threat to send the National Guard into the capital comes weeks after 
he deployed California's military reserve force into Los Angeles to quell 
protests over immigration raids, despite objections from local leaders and 
law enforcement.

The president has frequently mused about using the military to control 
America's cities, many of which are under Democratic control and hostile to 
his nationalist impulses.

On Wednesday Washington's non-voting congressional delegate, Eleanor Holmes 
Norton, rejected Trump's claim that violent crime was rising, and his threat 
to federalize the capital.

"Presidents have no authority to unilaterally take control of DC. Congress 
would have to pass a law, and I won't let the current effort get that far," 
she said on X.