Congress is expected to allow Trump's takeover of DC police to expire
[September 06, 2025]
By MARY CLARE JALONICK
WASHINGTON (AP) — Congress is expected to allow President Donald Trump’s
temporary takeover of Washington’s police department to expire next week
as the 30-day limit comes to an end and Mayor Muriel Bowser pledges to
maintain close coordination with federal law enforcement.
Trump took control of the Metropolitan Police Department in August in
addition to deploying hundreds of National Guard troops, saying he was
going to “take our capital back” from criminals. He invoked a section of
the District of Columbia Home Rule Act in an executive order to declare
a “crime emergency” so his administration could temporarily take over
the police force for 30 days. That order expires on Sept. 10.
Congress would have to approve an extension, and Republicans on Capitol
Hill have no plans to do so in the next week. Still, House Republicans
plan to move forward with a raft of bills that would tighten federal
control over the city, including tougher sentences for criminals and a
Trump-led effort to “beautify the district” by removing graffiti and
restoring public monuments.
Kentucky Rep. James Comer, the Republican chairman of the House
Committee on Oversight and Government Reform, said that “together with
President Trump,” the panel will “fulfill its constitutional duty to
oversee District affairs and make D.C. safe again.”
Bowser issued an order last week to continue the work of an emergency
operations center that the city set up in response to the law
enforcement surge. The mayor said police would work with federal law
enforcement agencies and credited the surge with bringing down the level
of crime in the city, including an 87 percent drop in carjackings.
GOP leaders in the House and Senate haven't seen a reason to act, given
that Bowser is working with federal authorities, according to aides who
spoke on the condition of anonymity to discuss private deliberations,
and Trump has so far not publicly urged them to seek an extension.
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Congressional Democrats have protested the takeover. Del. Eleanor Holmes
Norton, the city’s nonvoting representative, has pushed legislation to
give the city full control of its police department. Maryland Sen. Chris
Van Hollen introduced a similar bill in the Senate, saying that Trump is
“playing dictator in our nation’s capital.”
Bowser did not give a timeline for the coordination with federal
agencies. She said that “neighborhoods feel safer” when carjackings go
down. But she also said at the end of August that the presence of masked
agents who were not always identifiable had led to a “break in trust
between, police and community, especially with new federal partners.”
The city has challenged Trump’s use of the National Guard in Washington,
asking a federal court to intervene. Brian Schwalb, the district’s
elected attorney general, said in a lawsuit that the deployment is an
illegal use of the military — some of whom are carrying firearms — for
domestic law enforcement. Groups of Washington residents have protested
the takeover as videos of arrests and detainments have circulated on
social media.
Trump and Republicans have portrayed the takeover as transformative for
the city. He said last week that the city was safe and that restaurants
were enjoying booming business. “We have no crime,” he asserted flatly.
“You’re not going to be shot.”
National Guard troops are expected to stay in the city through later
this year, including those sent by Republican-led states. How long those
troops, which number around 1,340, remain in the nation’s capital is up
to their individual governors.
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Associated Press writers Kevin Freking, Stephen Groves, Konstantin
Toropin and Gary Fields contributed to this report.
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