Trump Threatens to Federalize Governance of DC Over Crime Issues

President Donald Trump on Aug. 5 threatened to federalize the governance of the District of Columbia over criminal activity in the federal district.

“Washington, D.C., must be safe, clean, and beautiful for all Americans and, importantly, for the World to see,” Trump wrote in a post on Truth Social, demanding that the city change its laws around prosecuting underaged offenders.

The demand comes after a man was brutally assaulted in the city. The identities of the perpetrators are unclear, but Trump stated that the victim was a member of the Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE), the brainchild of Elon Musk designed to reduce government waste and abuse.

“Somebody from DOGE was very badly hurt last night,” Trump told reporters at the White House in response to a question about DOGE spending cuts.

“A young man … was beat up by a bunch of thugs in D.C. And either they’re going to straighten their act out in terms of government and in terms of protection, or we’re going to have to federalize and run it the way it’s supposed to be run.”

In his post on Truth Social, Trump attached a graphic image of the victim, covered in blood because of the assault.

Musk posted to X that the assault happened because “a gang of about a dozen young men tried to assault a woman in her car at night.” The DOGE team member “saw what was happening, ran to defend her and was severely beaten to the point of concussion, but he saved her,” Musk said.

Although the crime rate in the District of Columbia has gone down in recent years—with a 35 percent drop in violent crime in 2024 compared with the previous year—Trump said that crime in the federal district is still “out of control.”

“If D.C. doesn’t get its act together, and quickly, 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,” Trump wrote.

Specifically, the president demanded that the city—which is run by a locally elected city council and mayor—change its ordinances regarding the prosecution of minor offenders. Trump said that offenders as young as age 14 should be subject to trial as an adult for violent offenses.

“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,” Trump said, adding that these juvenile offenders “are not afraid of Law Enforcement because they know nothing ever happens” to them.

He wrote, “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.”

Currently, minors as young as age 15 can be charged as adults in cases of severe violent crimes.

Trump suggested that if this law isn’t changed, his next move will be to federalize control of the city.

“Perhaps it should have been done a long time ago, then this incredible young man, and so many others, would not have had to go through the horrors of Violent Crime. If this continues, I am going to exert my powers, and FEDERALIZE this City,” the president wrote.

While D.C. elected officials pass laws to govern the district, acting in a function similar to a state legislature, the Constitution grants the federal government ultimate control over the federal jurisdiction.

Specifically, Congress has the power to reject, condemn, nullify, or alter city ordinances and laws. Although it has used this power sparingly since passing the Home Rule Act of 1973, the autonomy granted to the city is both conditional and revocable under the Constitution.

D.C. Mayor Muriel Bowser’s office didn’t immediately return a request for comment.