Trump takes control of D.C. police, deploying National Guard in historic capital crime crackdown – and warns NYC could be next | 11 Aug 2025 | President Trump announced a sweeping crime crackdown in D.C. on Monday, placing the city’s police department under federal control and deploying the National Guard to patrol the streets – while warning New York City could be next. “I’m announcing a historic action to rescue our nation’s capital from crime, bloodshed, bedlam and squalor – and worse. This is liberation day in D.C. and we’re going to take our capital back,” Trump told reporters at the White House. The Home Rule Act, which granted DC self-governance in 1973, allows the president to assert emergency control of the Metropolitan Police Department (MPD) for 30 days.