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U.S. President Donald Trump; Rep. Robert Garcia; Sen. Dick Durban
Leading lawmakers are raising deep concerns after the president painted a dark picture of Washington, D.C.
President Donald Trump’s decision to seize control of Washington, D.C.’s police force and deploy the National Guard into city streets was met Monday with swift and blistering condemnation from House Democrats, who warned the move marks a dangerous turn toward authoritarianism.
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“This is dictator-level stuff,” House Oversight Committee Democrats, led by gay California Rep. Robert Garcia, posted on X. “Deploying the military on D.C.’s streets only creates fear and chaos. Donald Trump will be held accountable for this brazen power grab.”
Illinois U.S. Sen. Dick Durbin, the ranking member on the Senate Judiciary Committee, called the announcement “political theater,” accusing Trump of using the Home Rule Act’s emergency powers to distract from unrelated controversies.
“I am sympathetic and feel a bond to the victims of violent crime wherever they occur in the District of Columbia, Illinois, and Texas, and in any state,” Durbin told reporters Monday. “Having said that, what the president did this morning was political theater. His idea in federalizing the police force of D.C. ignores the reality [that] they’re making dramatic progress in reducing violent crime in D.C., and so it’s a typical move by this president to create chaos and uncertainty and to draw the attention from other issues, like Jeffrey Epstein and his papers, [to] draw the attention away from the concern of American families that health care is beyond their reach and the cost of living is beyond their reach. He’s trying to change the subject. He won’t be able to do that.”
Asked whether Chicago could be next, Durbin replied: “I can’t predict where this president will move next, but I will tell you this is no way to solve the problem of violent crime.
Related: Donald Trump begins authoritarian takeover of Washington, D.C.
He said that what Trump did is technically legal. “It is legal under the Home Rule Act. For 48 hours, he can federalize the D.C. Police Force. Then it can be extended another 30 days, and then it takes an act of Congress,” he said.
The president framed his takeover as “Liberation Day in D.C.,” invoking Section 740 of the District of Columbia Home Rule Act, a rarely used provision that allows the federal government to assume direct control of the Metropolitan Police Department when “special conditions of an emergency nature exist.” Surrounded by top allies including Attorney General Pam Bondi, FBI Director Kash Patel, and Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth, Trump claimed the capital had been “overtaken by violent gangs, bloodthirsty criminals, roving mobs of wild youth, drugged-out maniacs and homeless people.”
Justice Department and Metropolitan Police Department data show a different reality: violent crime in D.C. is at its lowest level in 30 years, down 35 percent last year and another 26 percent so far in 2025. Mayor Muriel Bowser, who on Sunday called Trump’s rhetoric “hyperbolic and false,” warned that militarizing city streets undercuts both safety and democratic self-governance.
Trump’s remarks were an uneasy mix of crime control pledges and political grievance. He vowed to dismantle the city’s no-cash-bail policy, said officers confronting protesters were now “allowed to do whatever the hell they want,” and digressed into cultural warfare, railing against “sanctuary cities” and transgender inclusion in sports.
Related: Gay business owners brace for Donald Trump’s return to Washington, D.C.
For residents of D.C., where 14.5 percent of adults identify as LGBTQ+, the highest share in the nation, the stakes are particularly acute. Bowser has long called the District “the gayest city in the world” and pledged to defend its queer and trans community resources. Trump railed about “transgender for everybody” during the Monday morning announcement about crime.
The president also told reporters he would be “going to Russia” to meet with Russian President Vladimir Putin, another false claim. The meeting is scheduled for Friday in Alaska, where the two leaders are expected to discuss a potential ceasefire with Ukraine after the years-long Russian invasion.
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