Crime in Washington, D.C. is currently at its lowest level in decades and has dropped sharply over the past two years.
On August 11, 2025, President Donald Trump held a news conference in which he displayed a chart and claimed that crime in the capital was “totally out of control.” He announced that he was sending in National Guard troops and taking over the city’s police department, saying this was a “historic action” to “liberate” the capital. He portrayed the city as being plagued by chaos and violence, even though official statistics show crime has been steadily decreasing.
Trump began hinting at his plan the day before on social media, writing that crime was worsening and the city was becoming dirtier and less appealing. During the briefing, he referenced crime rates from 2023 and compared D.C. to other major cities worldwide. He also suggested police should use heavy force against people who resist arrest.
Experts on authoritarianism warn that Trump’s move may be less about fighting crime and more about making Americans comfortable with the presence of federal troops in cities, something rare in U.S. history. Trump also focused on what he called “beautifying” the city, which mainly meant removing homeless people from public areas. He said they would be moved far away from the capital, with alternative housing provided elsewhere.
At the time of these announcements, Trump was running for president again after leaving office in 2021 under the shadow of the January 6 attack on the U.S. Capitol. He had faced four criminal cases: one federal and one in Georgia tied to the events of January 6, another federal case over classified documents he kept after leaving office, and a New York case involving a \$130,000 payment to adult film actor Stormy Daniels before the 2016 election. He was convicted in the New York case on 34 counts of falsifying business records, but other prosecutions were dropped or delayed after he returned to the presidency.
On his first day back in office in 2025, Trump pardoned over 1,500 people involved in the January 6 attack. Around 400 of them had assaulted Capitol and D.C. police officers, injuring more than 140 officers. One officer died the same day, and four others died by suicide in the months afterward. Despite this, Trump still claims his supporters were victims rather than attackers, stating that they had been assaulted by the government itself.
