Trump says he’s placing Washington police under federal control, activating National Guard

US President Donald Trump has said he’s taking over Washington’s police department and activating 800 members of the National Guard in the hopes of reducing crime, The Associated Press reported.

The president, flanked by his attorney general, his defense secretary and the FBI director, said he was declaring a public safety emergency and his administration would be removing homeless encampments.

“We’re going to take our capital back,” Trump declared, adding he’d also be “getting rid of the slums,” according to The Associated Press.

Reuters described the move as “an extraordinary assertion of presidential power in the nation's capital.”

Attorney General Pam Bondi will assume responsibility for Washington’s Metropolitan Police Department, Trump said, as he also railed against potholes and graffiti in the city and called them “embarrassing.” The president did not provide a timeline for the control of the police department, but he’s limited to 30 days under statute unless he gets approval from Congress, according to The Associated Press. The District of Columbia’s status as a congressionally established federal district gives him a unique opportunity to push his tough-on-crime agenda, according to the report.

As Trump spoke, demonstrators gathered outside the White House to protest his moves. And local officials rejected the Republican president’s depiction of the district as crime-ridden and called his actions illegal.

“The administration’s actions are unprecedented, unnecessary, and unlawful,” District of Columbia Attorney General Brian Schwalb said. “There is no crime emergency in the District of Columbia.”

Schwalb, a Democrat, said violent crime in the district reached historic 30-year lows last year and is down an additional 26% this year.