U.S. President Donald Trump speaks to the media as he departs the White House on August 1, 2025 in Washington, DC.
Win McNamee | Getty Images
President Donald Trump said Saturday that he will hold a press availability at the White House next week to address violent crime in Washington, D.C., days after the White House announced it was increasing federal law enforcement across the city.
“On Monday a Press Conference will be held at the White House which will, essentially, stop violent crime in Washington, D.C,” he wrote on social media.
Trump, who has frequently criticized the Democratic-led city, claimed that D.C. will “soon be one of the safest cities,” even as data shows that violent crime in the nation’s capital has been decreasing.
Trump this week ramped up his rhetoric about crime in the district, after a former member of the Department of Government Efficiency was assaulted in an attempted carjacking.
“He went through a bad situation, to put it mildly, and there’s too much of it. We’re going to do something about it,” Trump said Wednesday.
Trump also threatened to federalize Washington, D.C., if local officials don’t “get [their] act together, and quickly.”
On Thursday, the White House said it was launching a seven-day effort to crack down on crime in the city.
“Washington, D.C. is an amazing city, but it has been plagued by violent crime for far too long,” White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt said in a statement, according to NBC Washington.
“President Trump has directed an increased presence of federal law enforcement to protect innocent citizens. Starting tonight, there will be no safe harbor for violent criminals in D.C.”
Local officials condemned Trump’s order and warned that he is encroaching on “home rule,” the decades-old act that allows D.C. residents to elect their own mayor and council members.
“Even if crime in D.C. weren’t at a historic low point, President Trump’s comments would be misguided and offensive to the more than 700,000 people who live permanently in the nation’s capital,” Rep. Eleanor Holmes Norton, D.C.’s nonvoting delegate, said in a statement.
“Although I won’t allow them to succeed, the Republicans pushing to repeal the Home Rule Act have no plan to run the District should they abolish the mayor’s office and D.C. Council,” she said.
