Trump Threatens Federal Takeover of DC if Capital ‘Doesn’t Get Its Act Together’
Diana Nerozzi, New York Post, August 5, 2025
President Trump again threatened Tuesday to bring the District of Columbia under federal control due to “out of control” crime in the nation’s capital.
“Local ‘youths’ and gang members, some only 14, 15, and 16-years-old, are randomly attacking, mugging, maiming, and shooting innocent Citizens, at the same time knowing that they will be almost immediately released,” Trump posted in a lengthy statement on Truth Social.
The president urged city officials to begin charging minors as adults for violent crimes beginning at age 14 — and “lock them up for a long time”.
“If D.C. doesn’t get its act together,” Trump wrote, “we will have no choice but to take Federal control of the City.”
The president included a picture of a young man sitting on the ground with blood streaming down his face after being apparently assaulted by teenagers.
Former Trump ally Elon Musk said on X that a Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) employee had recently rushed to help a woman who was in danger of being assaulted in her car — only to be beaten up by the gang of teenagers himself.
Washington’s juvenile arrest rate is nearly double the national average, with a mean of 2,235 such bookings per year between 2016 and 2022.
Locals regularly report feeling unsafe, both on the metro and on the streets, watching for groups of teens who have been known to threaten passerby and engage in crime.
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