US President Donald Trump, alongside US Attorney General Pam Bondi (R), holds up a chart as he speaks during a news conference to discuss crime in Washington, DC, in the Brady Press Briefing Room at the White House in Washington, DC, on August 11, 2025. President Donald Trump announced Monday that he was deploying National Guard troops and putting the Washington police force under federal control to tackle crime in the US capital. "This is Liberation Day in DC, and we're going to take our capital back," Trump said at a White House press conference. (Photo by ANDREW CABALLERO-REYNOLDS / AFP) Photo by ANDREW CABALLERO-REYNOLDS/AFP via Getty Images
On Aug. 11, President Donald Trump federalized control over the Washington D.C. Metropolitan Police Department (MPD) and ordered 800 National Guard troops to be activated in the nation’s capital.
“I’m announcing a historic action to rescue our nation’s capital from crime, bloodshed, bedlam, and squalor, and worse,“ Trump said at a White House press briefing. ”This is Liberation Day in DC, and we’re going to take our capital back.”
