Overview

• On August 9, President Trump invoked Section 740 of the Home Rule Act to assume temporary federal control of the Metropolitan Police Department and deploy roughly 500 federal agents alongside 800 National Guard troops.
• In a high-profile August 12 interview with MAGA influencer Benny Johnson, U.S. Attorney Jeanine Pirro called MPD’s reported 25–35% drop in violent crime “nonsense,” asserting up to 30% of incidents go unreported.
• Pirro argued that Washington once ranked among the world’s most dangerous cities and vowed to intensify enforcement and hold offenders more accountable.
• D.C. Mayor Muriel Bowser and Attorney General Brian Schwalb have condemned the takeover as unnecessary and signaled legal challenges under the city’s Home Rule provisions.
• The clash over conflicting crime data and the scope of federal authority has drawn mounting congressional and public scrutiny and could set a precedent for national intervention in local policing.