President Donald Trump’s federal forces are “hitting the streets” of Washington, D.C., while critics claim the takeover is an attempted distraction from the so-called Epstein files fallout.
Trump announced Monday he was placing the D.C. police department under direct federal control and deploying the National Guard to “rescue our nation’s capital from crime, bloodshed, bedlam, and squalor, and worse,” despite crime figures declining for the past two years.
“This is Liberation Day in D.C., and we’re gonna take our capital back,” Trump said during a press conference. “We’re taking it back. Under 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.”
In response, D.C. Mayor Muriel Bowser said the administration’s plans are “unsettling and unprecedented,” but she was “not totally surprised” by them.
The White House announced on X Monday evening, “Multi-agency task forces are hitting the streets of Washington, D.C., cleaning up crime and keeping our neighborhoods SAFE,” adding authorities arrested 37 criminals, seized 11 illegal firearms and issued four narcotic charges.
NPR reported small groups from the FBI, the Drug Enforcement Administration and other agencies were seen on the streets of Washington Sunday.
The some 800 National Guard troops, which will be positioned in Washington starting this week, will not perform law enforcement tasks, The New York Times reported, citing Pentagon officials.
When pressed about the National Guard’s role, Defense Secretary Pete Hegeth said on Fox News Monday evening, “We’re not going to have National Guard just sitting there like this, seeing a crime committed and not do something about it. You can help somebody, interdict, temporarily detain like we did in Los Angeles, and hand over to law enforcement.”
Trump’s opponents quickly rebuked the administration’s operation in D.C.
Trump’s old foe, former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, pointed out on X, “Violent crime in D.C. is at a 30-year low,” sharing data from January, which stated overall violent crime was down 35 percent from 2023.
Another Trump rival, former House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, wrote: “Donald Trump delayed deploying the National Guard on January 6th [2021] when our Capitol was under violent attack and lives were at stake.
“Now, he’s activating the D.C. Guard to distract from his incompetent mishandling of tariffs, health care, education and immigration — just to name a few blunders.”
Some of the president’s critics believe the move has less to do with crime in D.C. and more to do with the administration’s handling of documents related to the late financier Jeffrey Epstein’s sex crimes.
Last month, the Justice Department and FBI released a memo stating there was no so-called client list of powerful people who may have partaken in Epstein’s crimes, that Epstein did, in fact, die by suicide, and “no further disclosure [of information regarding Epstein] would be appropriate or warranted.”
The memo sparked backlash, notably from Trump’s own base, as it left many unanswered questions and concerns the government may be covering up materials that would be of interest to the public.
Pete Buttigieg, who was transportation secretary under former President Joe Biden, blasted the federal takeover of Washington D.C. policing as “dangerous, authoritarian actions” in a video posted to X.
“ The president is doing this not in order to make the city safer— that's the job of local law enforcement — but to solve his own political problems. He needs to get his base talking and thinking about something besides his refusal to open up the Epstein files because he's mixed up in them,” Buttigieg said.
Trump has not been accused of wrongdoing in relation to Epstein or his crimes.
Last month, the Wall Street Journal reported DOJ officials told Trump earlier this year his name, among others, appeared in the Epstein files. Trump had socialized with the convicted sex offender decades ago and a mention in the files does not mean there was any wrongdoing.
Senator Patty Murray, a Washington state Democrat, also claimed “wannabe dictator” Trump wants to distract from the Epstein files.
“He's a pathetic wannabe dictator who wants to distract you from his connection to the Epstein files, skyrocketing costs, and his weak job numbers. Don't let him,” Murray wrote of Trump.
Representative Eric Swalwell, a California Democrat, shared similar sentiments to other Trump critics: “Trump’s federal takeover of D.C. isn’t about safety, it’s about distracting Americans from, high prices, a bad jobs report, a falling economy, and the Epstein files.”
“I can tell you one thing for sure—crime is WAY up at the White House,” Representative Jim McGovern, a Massachusetts Democrat, wrote. “Don’t fall for the distraction. Trump could release the Epstein Files right now if he wanted to. Why won't he?”
The Independent has reached out to the White House and D.C. police for comment.
Trump had asked Attorney General Pam Bondi to produce “any and all pertinent” grand jury transcripts in the criminal cases of Epstein and his close associate Ghislaine Maxwell, but so far, judges have denied most of the requests.
A federal judge in New York is still considering releasing testimony in Epstein’s 2019 investigation.
During his press conference Monday, Trump also suggested he would “look at” crime in at least two other major cities, New York City and Chicago.
Trump called Chicago a “disaster,” and said Illinois Governor JB Pritzker was “incompetent.”
Pritzker - a Democrat - said he took Trump’s diss as a “compliment.”
“Let’s not lie to the public, you and I both know you have no authority to take over Chicago. By the way, where are the Epstein files?” he wrote.
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