President Donald Trump said Tuesday he’s weighing a federal takeover of Washington, D.C., spouting bogus claims about rampant crime in the nation’s capital, and hinted he could pursue the same with New York City.
Trump, who first floated the idea in February , brought up the takeover in the Oval Office when a reporter asked him who he thinks Republicans should support in the upcoming New York mayoral race. Trump said he’s “not getting involved” but went on to slam Democratic nominee Zohran Mamdani as a “disaster” and “communist” who would be bad for the city. “We have tremendous power at the White House to run places when we have to,” Trump then said before disclosing he’s already “testing” a plan to take over Washington.
“We’re thinking about doing it, to be honest with you. We want to. We want a capital that’s run flawlessly,” he said.
“We could run D.C. I mean, we’re looking at D.
C. We don’t want crime in D.C.
We want the city to run well,” he also said, adding that the city’s mayor, Democrat Muriel Bowser, is “working very closely” with White House chief of staff Susie Wiles. Bowser’s office declined to comment when asked about Trump’s remarks. “We would run it so good,” Trump said of the district.
“It would be run so properly. We’d get the best person to run it. The crime would be down to a minimal ― would be much less.
” Violent crime in Washington hit its lowest point in 30 years in 2024 and is down 35% f.
