President Trump announced Monday morning that he is invoking “Section 740 of the DC Home Rule Act… and placing the DC police department under direct federal control.” Trump said Attorney General Pam Bondi is taking command of the D.C. Metropolitan Police Department. “We will bring in the military if needed.” “In addition, I’m deploying the National Guard to restore public order and safety in Washington DC,” Trump said.

PRESIDENT DONALD TRUMP: Something is out of control, but we are going to put it in control very quickly, like we did on the southern border. I’m announcing an action to rescue our nation’s capital from crime, bloodshed, bedlam, and squalor-and worse. This is Liberation Day in D.C., and we are going to take our capital back. We are taking it back. Under the authority vested in me as the President of the United States, I’m invoking Section 740 of the District of Columbia Home Rule Act-you know what that is-placing the D.C. Metropolitan Police Department under direct federal control, and you will be meeting the people who will be directly involved with that. Very good people, but they are tough, and they know what’s happening. They’ve done it before. In addition, I’m deploying the National Guard to help reestablish law, order, and public safety in Washington, D.C., and they are going to be allowed to do their jobs properly. Think of the people who are victims of it. You reporters-I understand a lot of you tend to be liberal-but you don’t want to get mugged and raped and shot and killed. You all know people who that happens to, so you can say anything you want, but you want to have safety in the streets. You want to be able to leave your apartment or your house where you live and feel safe, and go into a store to buy a newspaper or to buy something. And you don’t have that now. In Washington today, the murder rate is higher than that of Colombia, Mexico City, several other places that you hear about. It’s one of the worst places on earth-this is much higher. The number of car thefts has doubled over the past five years, and the number of carjackings has more than tripled. Murders in ’23 reached the highest rate probably ever. They say 25 years, but they don’t know what that means because it just goes back 25 years-could be worse. Our capital city has been overtaken by violent gangs and bloodthirsty criminals, roving mobs of wild youth, maniacs, and homeless people. And we are not going to let it happen anymore. We are not going to take it. Just like we did on our southern border-nobody comes to our southern border anymore. We have zero. The people who do the work-it’s a very liberal group of people actually-and they actually said zero for the last three months. I didn’t think that was possible. You know, when you say, Take a look at numbers, I just saw some charts. These are different cities throughout the world.

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