What to Know as Trump Activates National Guard, Takes Control of DC Police

The president announced the actions ’to rescue [the] nation’s capital from crime, bloodshed, bedlam, and squalor, and worse.’

President Donald Trump (C) and (L-R) Army Secretary Dan Driscoll, Secretary of the Interior Doug Burgum, Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth, Attorney General Pam Bondi, FBI director Kash Patel, and District of Columbia Attorney Jeanine Pirro during a press briefing at the White House in Washington on Aug. 11, 2025. Madalina Kilroy/The Epoch Times

WASHINGTON—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.”