US President Donald Trump said on Tuesday that the federal government could take control of Washington if the local government "doesn't get its act together," with his comments coming in a Truth Social post complaining about crime in the US capital.
"Crime in Washington, DC, is totally out of control. 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 in his post.
He urged that "The Law in DC must be changed to prosecute these 'minors' as adults, and lock them up for a long time, starting at age 14."
"If DC doesn’t get its act together, and quickly, we will have no choice but to take Federal control of the City," Trump added.
He further stressed, "If this continues, I am going to exert my powers, and FEDERALIZE this City. MAKE AMERICA GREAT AGAIN!"
Trump suggests takeover of NYC and Washington
In July, Trump also suggested a government takeover of both New York City and Washington, ABC News reported.
The US president made the statements during a meeting of his Cabinet at the White House, where he was asked about NYC's upcoming mayoral election.
Trump bashed Zohran Mamdani, who won the Democratic mayoral primary in June, stating that “if a communist gets elected to run New York, it can never be the same. But we have tremendous power at the White House to run places when we have to," ABC News quoted
Addressing Washington, Trump said, "We could run DC. We're looking at DC. We don't want crime in DC. We want the city to run well."
"We would run it so good, it would be run so proper, we'd get the best person to run it," he added, "And we know the crime would be down to a minimum, would be much less. And, you know, we're thinking about doing it, to be honest with you."
Earlier in February, Trump similarly threw his support behind calls for a federal government takeover of Washington, saying the local government was "not doing the job" on crime and homelessness.
"We should run it strong, run it with law and order, make it absolutely flawlessly beautiful. And I think we should take over Washington, DC Make it safe," said Trump, who has made similar calls in the past.