Donald Trump announced on Monday August 11, at a press conference at the White House, place the maintenance of order in the capital Washington under the control of the federal authorities, as well as the deployment of the National Guard soldiers, exceptional measures for this city he says “Invaded by violent gangs”.
While official statistics show a decrease in violent crime in Washington, the American president declared invoking a measure which authorizes him to take control of the police from this city to the Special Statute in the United States.
“It has become a situation of complete and total anarchy, and we are going to get rid of the slums”said Trump. In a message on his Truth Social platform on Sunday, he had already urged the homeless to leave Washington. “The homeless must leave, immediately. We will give you places to sleep, but far from the capital ”he had written, before addressing the “Criminals”. “You don’t need to leave. We are going to put you in prison, where you should find yourself ”launched the Republican President.
Mr. Trump also promised that his initiative would not stop in Washington, where he decreed a state of emergency. “It will go further. We start very strongly [à Washington] And we’re going to clean this quickly ”he said. The American president also said he deployed the national guard, a body of reserve soldiers, “In order to restore law, order, and public security”. He had already mobilized in June the National Guard in California, against the advice of the Democratic Governor, Gavin Newsom, saying that he wanted to restore order in Los Angeles after demonstrations against arrests of immigrants by the Federal Immigration Police (ICE).
A city with special status
Since his return to the White House, Trump has repeatedly threatened to replace Washington under the control of the federal authorities. The city indeed has a special status in the United States. Established after the war of independence to serve as capital, it is not attached to any American state, and the Constitution provides that the Congress has jurisdiction over its cases. Since a law of 1973, the inhabitants can however elect a municipal council, even if its decisions are still controlled by the congress.
At the end of February, the President of the United States assured that he was supporting a legislative project aimed at returning to this law, in particular to improve the fight against crime. “There are too many crimes, graffiti, too many tents [de sans-abri] On the lawns, these magnificent lawns »had he then declared to the press, insisting on the importance of the appearance of the American capital where regular foreign dignitaries come. And, at the end of March, he signed a decree to increase the supervision of his government over the municipality, particularly in the fight against illegal immigration.
Washington is a historically democratic vote, and Mr. Trump’s rival in the November election, Kamala Harris, had raised more than 90 % of the vote there.
