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PULSE POINTS
❓WHAT HAPPENED: In a post on Truth Social, President Donald J. Trump said he will move to federalize the nation’s capital, Washington, D.C., unless the city government, led by Mayor Muriel Bowser (D), reins in violent crime.
👤WHO WAS INVOLVED: President Donald Trump, Mayor Muriel Bowser, Washington, D.C. city officials, the Metropolitan Police Department (MPD), criminals, and victims of violent crime.
📍WHEN & WHERE: The announcement was made Tuesday, August 5, 2025, in a post on Truth Social.
💬KEY QUOTE: “Crime in Washington, D.C., is totally out of control. Local “youths” and gang members, some only 14, 15, and 16-years-old, are randomly attacking, mugging, maiming, and shooting innocent Citizens, at the same time knowing that they will be almost immediately released.” — President Donald Trump
🎯IMPACT: Trump and Congress could move to revoke home rule for the capital and re-exert federal control entirely over the city.
IN FULL
President Donald J. Trump announced on Tuesday that he will move to federalize the nation’s capital, Washington, D.C., unless the city government, led by Mayor Muriel Bowser (D), reins in violent crime. In a post on Truth Social, Trump lambasted the lack of action by city officials to handle a recent wave of violent and deadly assaults and muggings.
“Crime in Washington, D.C., is totally out of control. Local “youths” and gang members, some only 14, 15, and 16-years-old, are randomly attacking, mugging, maiming, and shooting innocent Citizens, at the same time knowing that they will be almost immediately released,” President Trump wrote. He added: “They are not afraid of Law Enforcement because they know nothing ever happens to them, but it’s going to happen now! The Law in D.C. must be changed to prosecute these “minors” as adults, and lock them up for a long time, starting at age 14. The most recent victim was beaten mercilessly by local thugs.”
Trump insists that the capital “must be safe, clean, and beautiful for all Americans,” and if Mayor Bowser does not act, “we will have no choice but to take Federal control of the City, and run this City how it should be run, and put criminals on notice that they’re not going to get away with it anymore.” Significantly, the President added: ” If this continues, I am going to exert my powers, and FEDERALIZE this City.”
Washington, D.C. has been plagued with waves of violent crime—especially during the summer months—in recent years. Recently, Eric Tarpinian-Jachym, a 21-year-old college student interning for Representative Ron Estes (R-KS), died after being struck by a stray bullet in a drive-by shooting in the downtown area of the capital. Over a month earlier, far-left pro-Palestinian activist Elias Rodriguez murdered two Israeli embassy staffers outside the Capital Jewish Museum.
Already, the Trump administration has ramped up nuisance arrests for public drinking and drug use in public parks under federal control. This effort stems from a presidential directive issued in March aimed at clearing D.C.’s homeless encampments and open-air drug markets, which have fueled—in part—the crime wave.
The National Pulse reported last month that the Metropolitan Police Department (MPD) confirmed Michael Pulliam, a Washington, D.C. police commander, is under investigation for allegedly doctoring crime statistics. The investigation began after the Fraternal Order of Police complained that the department was deliberately falsifying crime data. The police union claims that supervisors are manipulating data to show a significant decrease in violent crime compared to the previous year.
Image by Burkhard Mücke.
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